The square in Spain was not full of nationalist demonstrators to celebrate Diada, the day when Catalans paid tribute to their ancestors who resisted the siege of Philip V’s soldiers until September 11, 1714, but above all to defend the independence of Spain to demand. . According to the local police, 115 thousand people took part in the march that gathered at that central point in Barcelona, representing the lowest participation of the population since 2012. If it is true that Esquerra (Catalan Republican Left, ERC) and Junts per Catalunya has taken on new importance in the Spanish political framework, not least because the various independence formations do not understand each other.
Amnesty is the watchword in Spain. This is the condition of the Junts’ non-formal leader, Carles Puigdemont, so that a new coalition government (now between the PSOE and Sumar) can be made viable. Despite the loss of votes and representatives, the ERC and the Junts each elected seven deputies, a magic number for Pedro Sánchez to become head of government.
Sumar’s negotiator proposed to former Prime Minister Zapatero to mediate in the process, in response to Puigdemont’s demand.
Some socialists are against this scenario. Former Prime Minister Felipe González is the most notable, but yesterday former Madrid accused PSOE leader Tomás Gómez Sánchez of contributing to the “deconstruction or destruction” of the Spanish state in exchange for his retention in power. Further to the left, Sumar negotiator Jaume Asens proposed the name of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to mediate the process.
In addition to amnesty for secessionists targeted by justice, Puigdemont had demanded an overseer of government formation agreements. Zapatero was the only historical socialist to support Sánchez. But if there is a desire to build bridges between the left in Madrid and Barcelona, Catalonia’s different factions are far from speaking with one voice.
The Catalan National Assembly (ANC), the entity organizing the main demonstration, does not want negotiations to make the central government viable unless it involves secession from Spain. “We are here to remind the state that nothing has ended and nothing will end until we achieve independence,” said ANC President Dolors Feliu, ending with “Independence or nothing!” Independence or elections!” Moreover, amnesty is viewed with suspicion by the association because, its activists claim, the complaint filed against the Spanish state with the European Court of Human Rights would fail.
The CUP, on the far left of the independence movement, also does not see much positive in the negotiations. “An amnesty without self-determination will be little more than a few pardons 2.0. We have the feeling that Junts will end up in the same impasse as the ERC,” said Xavier Pellicer, that party’s deputy in the regional parliament.
But equally, the ERC and the Junts, which have been at war for a long time, sent different messages: the Secretary General of the Junts, Jordi Turull, defended the one-sidedness, while the president of the region, Pere Aragonès, of the ERC said that the fundamental The issue is a referendum on independence, but not one-sided.
Source: DN
