"Either Puigdemont or nobody from Junts. There is no plan B". Nine meters of blue fabric surrounded the presentation of Carles Puigdemont's candidacy in Elna, which turned into the momentum that upsets all electoral calculations. The subsequent call of 12- M forces the former president to take risks and triggers hypotheses about government alliances and their viability. Also about the resistance of the projects. That of the PSC and Pedro Sánchez in the face of the systematic harassment campaign of the PP for amnesty and beyond; and the of ERC with its pragmatic commitment from the presidency of the Generalitat to a hyper-leadership like that of Puigdemont.
In Junts, the candidacy of the former president acts as an amalgam and resolves internal fights about eternal aspirants. It also erases from the map post-convergence experiments of previous legislatures. Puigdemont wants a transverse list, but now he is fully committed to the party. In addition, the rush of the call-up makes it difficult to make stellar signings. Jordi Turull's management has already decided who will head the renewed provincial lists without backpacks: Mònica Sales, Salvador Vergès and Jeannine Abella. Despite the presentation of the candidacy in blue – the corporate color of the Generalitat during his presidency – and without the Junts acronym, the decision on the image of the campaign will be conditioned by the narrative that Puigdemont has already imposed: restitution.
To restore what?, they ask ERC. To finish what work? Junts' strategy does not go back to talking about unilateral declarations of independence despite not renouncing unilateralism. Puigdemont intends to resituate himself in his mandate as president, but not exactly in October 2017, but in the two years of maximum legislative production, "good government", the negotiation to end the fiscal deficit and the demand for an agreed referendum. "If the amnesty was possible, so was the referendum", he stated in his conference.
Here the Republicans give him a "welcome", although they expect to confront the former president in the field of management. Pere Aragonès feels comfortable in the debate on financing – he will present his proposal again on Monday to the College of Economists. Far from messianic leadership, Aragonès clings to "tangible issues". At ERC they believe that Puigdemont will not be able to avoid all the debates that have marked the legislature: drought, education, Neighborhoods... Even if the ERC Government's note is not bright either. Together, he will surround Puigdemont with a team that will allow him to delegate presences, even more so when the electoral board previously prohibited him from participating in telematic debates. However, there is unanimity in his team when they say that the former president "wants to talk about governing".
Also of his successes since Waterloo. In Junts they defend the viability of open negotiations with the PSOE despite the electoral disputes. It is the socialists, they say, who must take into account the consequences of 12-M on the pact that supports them in Congress.
In fact, Junts has no objections when it comes to bragging about its "120 days" relationship with the socialists. Expensive plan for the signing of the investiture pact, for the yes and no to the Amnesty law, for Minister Albares' defense of Catalan before the European institutions... And for the meetings with the international mediator that will be held in the agenda with the only parenthesis of the electoral campaigns – one is planned before the European ones. On the contrary, ERC has suspended contacts with the socialists until passing 9-J.
The PSC wonders "what epic is left for Puigdemont". Salvador Illa's plan is set in motion: "Turn the page". Of the process, but also of the former president. Illa is offered for those who do not want Puigdemont to return to Palau; and Turull affirms that Illa will not be president with the votes of Junts, neither by action nor by omission. What is clear to Junts is that they do not fear an electoral repeat. There is no effective candidate other than Puigdemont. In the third, since 2017, it can be the overdue or be the overdue...
