Just when the Catalan government has the least parliamentary support in history, the president of the Generalitat advocates governing for “all of Catalonia” (“la Catalunya sencera”). Or perhaps it is because of that weakness that Pere Aragonès resorts to such a declaration of intent, because he needs the good disposition of the rest of the parties. ERC feels liberated from a toxic relationship with Junts, but is not yet ready to open up to the PSC. So the Republicans will try to apply the "variable geometry" that Zapatero popularized, but with fewer numbers and a climate still marked by the red lines drawn by the procés, which makes this an almost impassable path.
That the alliance with Junts was not giving more of itself had been evident for a long time. The government pact was already forged with the opposition of figures as prominent as Carles Puigdemont. But, once agreed, Junts settled for the idea that its ministers would demonstrate greater skill than ERC's and that would be rewarded in the polls. In vain. As the months passed, more Junts leaders considered it impossible to differentiate themselves from ERC from within the government. They could not set a profile on issues such as the airport or taxes and had to assume the possibility of the Republicans at the dialogue table. Any attempt to offer a different proposal to his voters, more to the right and more combative about independence, collided with the contradiction of remaining in power.
The new management of Junts, with Jordi Turull at the helm, began to put pressure on ERC last July. Delegations from both parties held almost a dozen meetings. Those of Junts wanted their partners to compromise on the creation of a strategic direction on the road to independence or on political coordination in Madrid. Something that would justify his permanence in the government. They ran into an impassable wall. In a meeting in early September, after reiterating his denials, one of the Republicans ended with a lapidary challenge: "No and no, and you will swallow." That clash led to a meeting at the Palau de Pedralbes that began with lunch and ended at dinner, with no result. It was Turull who put on the table, in a meeting on the occasion of the general policy debate with Laura Borràs, Jordi Puigneró, Albert Batet and Josep Rius, the missile of the question of confidence to force Aragonès to move. The artifact was fired and its explosion triggered the dismissal of the vice president, the consultation of the Junts militancy and, finally, the departure of the Government.
The president knows that he is not going to get the support of Junts for the budgets. And he doesn't want the PSC so as not to feed the story that a new tripartite is coming and so as not to lose the key that allows them to make progress with the PSOE, without which Junts will breastfeed his bad omens on the dialogue table.
If Junts does not present a motion of censure against Aragonès, it is because he would have to vote for Salvador Illa for the presidency. But those of Turull are going to exercise a tough opposition. They have privileged information on those who have just left the executive and on positions that remain in their positions. They are not going to give Aragonès even water and they hope to resist even the municipal ones with the fuel of calling their own to take revenge for the rudeness of the Republicans. The fight between Junts and ERC that Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras brought to a climax has not ended. Everything is preparing for the electoral battle in May.
Aragonès will extend the budget and seek specific support for some social measures. But if he can only count on, at most, a third of the deputies of the Parliament, the ambition of this government is very limited and it will hardly respond to the commendable will to govern for all of Catalonia. If the president is referring to agglutinating more sympathy through an agreed referendum, he does not have enough political support in that endeavor either. In any case, governing to everyone's liking is not only impossible, but also leads to immobility. If anything, it will already be an achievement to govern, if not for everyone, then for some more than their own.
