The general elections have highlighted the electoral setback of pro-independence options in Catalonia, but have given them a key to governability in the next Spanish legislature. "If Pedro Sánchez wants to be re-invested, he must be brave, move his file and listen to the claims of ERC and Junts", summed up yesterday the spokeswoman of the Government of the Generalitat, Patrícia Plaja, at the press conference following the meeting of the Catalan Executive. "Immobility will not bring him to Moncloa", he insisted.
Plaja began the intervention with an assessment of the results of the general elections and admitted that "there is obviously a lot to think about" regarding the loss of votes of pro-independence parties, and assured that the Government is "self-criticizing". But he attributed "the decline in the vote" to an extraneous matter: "The high polarization in Spanish terms has harmed independence," he said. He admitted that "we need to reflect and find the reasons" for the "decline in the pro-independence vote", but he transferred the task to the parties.
For its part, the Generalitat prefers to emphasize the negotiating power that ERC and Junts will have in Congress. "Those who would like an irrelevant independence have found that Catalonia and independence have the key and strength for the investiture, and those who proclaim themselves leftists are obliged to listen and negotiate. Without respecting Catalonia and its voice, there will be no government", he emphasized.
Along these lines, he completely ruled out that the ERC result of 23-J, after losing 400,000 votes and remaining with seven of the thirteen seats that he had in the last legislature, will have consequences on the continuity of the Executive by Pere Aragonès. "Catalonia needs stability. The Government does not have a majority, but it has concrete results, two consecutive budgets have been approved and the macroeconomic data are very good. There will be no electoral advance. Catalan policy is not conditioned by the policy of the Spanish Government", he stressed.
Having ruled out an electoral advance, the Generalitat also validates the strategy of dialogue and negotiation with the Government of Spain. Plaja highlighted "the very important developments" of the dialogue table, among which he mentioned the pardons to the leaders of the 1-O and the repeal of the crime of sedition. "Much remains to be done, but the electoral results have once again given pro-independence supporters the strength to continue moving forward in this regard", he stressed. The Government takes for granted that the negotiation for a new investiture of Sánchez will be "long and difficult", and Plaja called for "unity" from the pro-independence parties to have "more negotiating strength".
However, Aragonès' plans do not include proposing that Junts return to form part of the Government, which he left in October 2022, after a consultation with the militancy. "It is not on the table and it is not foreseen", said Plaja.
Asked about the request of the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court to judge Pablo Llarena, instructor in the 1-O case, to issue a European arrest warrant against former president Carles Puigdemont, Plaja pointed out that the "new movement" of the Justice, just after 23-J, "is his way of wanting to influence the negotiation for the investiture" and transferred "all the support" to Puigdemont.
