Unlike what happened last year for the National Day of September 11, the Government intends to attend the next demonstration that is traditionally organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural. But the Catalan Executive does not clarify whether or not President Pere Aragonès will attend this concentration that will have Plaza d'Espanya as the epicenter, although they admit that the "context" of this year is incomparable with that of 2022.
After the meeting of the Executive Council on Tuesday, the spokesperson Patrícia Plaja has not clarified what the final decision of the president or the ministers will be, alleging that she does not yet have the agenda of the government officials for that day, but has assumed that "The Government will be" both in this and in many other pro-independence demonstrations that will be held throughout the Catalan territory. "If they are demanding and inclusive, the Government will go," she remarked.
The decision of the Executive of Aragonès on this Diada differs from that of last year, when around this time the Government announced that it would not attend the ANC rally, it was a demonstration "against political parties and institutions, and not against the Spanish State, which delves into the divergences of the independence movement".
The division of the independence movement at that time was deep as a result of the negotiation that the Government was carrying out with the Executive of Pedro Sánchez on the Catalan question, a strategy harshly criticized by the organizers of the protest. Then, the Government claimed that attending the demonstration "would not be consistent with the approach made by the organizers themselves."
But the Catalan Executive now considers that the context is different. With the investiture at the epicenter of political news and Junts per Catalunya jumped on the negotiation bandwagon to facilitate the re-election of Pedro Sánchez as Prime Minister, the differences between the parties seem to eventually mitigate. "Last year there was a context, this year there is another and if the demonstrations are demanding and above all inclusive, the Government will be there. Last year the starting point was not this," the spokesperson justified.
The presence of Aragonès in this year's demonstration cannot be taken for granted yet, it is foreseeable that the decision will be revealed in the coming days. Meanwhile, we will have to wait for events regarding the future of the investiture. At the moment, this Thursday a meeting of the Junts executive is scheduled to analyze the investiture of Sánchez, a matter on which the Government encourages the post-convergents to take a definitive step, by configuring "an opportunity to deepen and continue advancing in the resolution of the political conflict", while urging Sánchez to "move" in favor of amnesty, self-determination and social and infrastructure improvements.
Plaja has pointed out that the acting president "has to move and respond to a majority demand in Catalonia", but he has also pointed to the post-convergents, recalling that "now there is the strength of 14 pro-independence deputies from two formations", so "We have to move forward with concrete proposals so that citizens can decide freely."
In this way, the Government welcomes Junts to the negotiation, a path begun this legislature by the Esquerra Executive that is now taking the opportunity to claim: "For the first time there was recognition of a political conflict," Plaja has assessed. Now the possibility of a right-wing government is the engine that should also move the negotiations of the pro-independence parties, which according to the Catalan Executive, should "look after the interests of the Catalans.
"There is more strength from the independentistas and it has to be taken advantage of. Now there are more groups in favor of this path, so that "the strategy is correct." And although it is a task of the parliamentary groups, the Government "continues with the same conviction" regarding the benefits of negotiating.
On the other hand, the lack of an agreement with Junts to invest Sánchez, which would trigger an electoral repetition, would not be good news for the Government of Aragonès. It would be "a bad scenario because it is giving a new opportunity to the right and the extreme right to have results that now do not come out," said the spokeswoman.
The Government has presented the poster and the campaign that it will promote on the occasion of this year's Diada, which on this occasion will be dedicated to the defense of Catalan and in which the Gold Medal will be awarded to the singer Maria del Mar Bonet, the Valencian editor Eliseu Climent and the writer Marta Pessarrodona. The slogan of the campaign is Una llengua, molts accents, and the Catalan Executive appeals to the changes in language policy that are taking place in the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands due to the agreements between PP and Vox after the May elections, and that make the Government conclude that Catalan is "seriously attacked".
The institutional poster, which already appears on the facade of the Palau de la Generalitat, has a yellow background and the words in red, and with synonyms of that color 'red, red, red and crimson', emulating a flag.
Plaja explained that one of the novelties this year is that the Generalitat "has sought collaboration with other institutions, institutional buildings and markets" where this institutional poster of the Diada can be seen.
