The bitter fight for the presidency of Esquerra casts shadows on the Government of Illa | News from Catalonia

The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, is laying the foundations of his mandate pending the tense renewal process of the Esquerra executive, which has so far prevented the budgets from being agreed. Illa proposed at the beginning of his mandate to have the accounts ready on January 1, but he has already admitted that the deadline will be extended to the first quarter of the year. The Republicans will choose their new executive next Saturday and from then on the Government hopes to accelerate the talks. The situation, however, has been clouded by the two ERC candidates who aspire to lead the party to hold a consultation to validate the budget pact. Illa’s Executive is supported by a fragile majority of 42 deputies and unavoidably needs the votes of ERC and the commons to achieve an absolute majority.

With the firm intention of not bothering their partners – the Government has only one vote – the socialists have shown their respect for the ERC congressional process and avoided the slightest reproach. The ERC bases voted on the 30th mostly for the list headed by Oriol Junqueras but they will have to return to the polls because the former president did not reach the absolute majority (he achieved 48% of the votes). The large PSC delegation that attended the 41st Federal Congress of the PSOE was also awaiting that vote, wishing to close the interim period. But it will take 14 more days. “We are respectful of any congressional process and we are waiting for the new direction. ERC is a historic party, which has had Government responsibilities and we understand that there will be unity and that there will be budgets,” said the spokesperson for the Generalitat, Silvia Paneque, at the end of the Executive Council last Tuesday, adding that they do not contemplate another scenario and that They trust that there will be accounts “whoever wins.”

The Executive does not hide that it would have liked to give a greater pace to the conversations and remembers that to comply with the investiture agreements the accounts need to be approved. Illa himself has used that argument in the control sessions in Parliament. And it ensures that the Government will comply with its corresponding part of the agreements contemplated in the pacts, including the unique financing model. Paneque added that the Government complies with the case of the bill to eradicate asbestos from Catalonia as well as the law on rural municipalities. “This Government is absolutely committed to the investiture pacts and will comply with them to the letter,” said the spokesperson. In fact, precisely in the regulatory section is where the socialists can show the most progress. For example, they have given the green light to up to three regulations inherited from Pere Aragonès’ mandate at the head of the Generalitat and which appeared in the investiture agreement.

The point is that ERC’s electoral race could disrupt Illa’s plans if the winning candidacy really decides that the militancy will vote for the budget pact, something that is becoming increasingly more likely. The Foc Nou list, which has been eliminated from the second round, initially proposed that the investiture pact – which they see as one of the Government, due to its length and complexity – go through the sieve of militancy again. A certain competition to win the votes of this formation has also led to a hardening of the tone of both candidates regarding relations with the socialists and that is where the idea of ​​also voting on whether or not to support the accounts has taken hold. The number two of the PSC, Lluïsa Moret, stated last Monday, in an interview in this newspaper, that she gave full validity to the consultation that the ERC management organized in August in which the bases endorsed the investiture pact. “It can’t have changed that much,” he said. The “yes” vote, celebrated with joy at the PSC headquarters, was won by 550 votes. “We want a strong and solid ERC. “We are convinced that ERC and its militancy want the best for the country.”

In the first round of the internal election of the Republicans, the list headed by Oriol Junqueras, Militància Decidim, won. He obtained 48% of the votes. It is followed by Nova Esquerra Nacional, which brings together the followers of the theses of renewal of the leadership of the still general secretary, Marta Rovira, and whose visible head is Xavier Godàs. They obtained 35% support. The fundamental difference is that both lists were behind the negotiations to reach an agreement with Illa, while the genesis of Foc Nou was precisely to reject that agreement with the PSC to allow him to become president of the Generalitat. With such a tight margin, the 12% of orphan votes obtained by the displaced candidate are offered as keys for Saturday’s vote and both Junqueras and Godàs have set out to seduce them.

Both Militància Decidim and Nova Esquerra Nacional set ERC’s long-term objectives as achieving the transfer of Rodalies and obtaining unique financing for Catalonia. Objectives that initially require much more time to achieve and that a consultation on the future of the legislature in the Parliament could put at risk. Both candidates also issue signals that can be read more as a warning than a threat. Godàs, for example, assured on Thursday that the consultation does not have to be a binary response and would arrive after an internal report on compliance. Former counselor Ester Capella, aligned with Junqueras, also said the same day that the Government should focus on “doing its homework” and not hide behind the internal elections of the Republicans so as not to advance in compliance with the investiture pacts.