Esquerra Republicana celebrates its first National Council this Saturday after the election of the new leadership led by Oriol Junqueras and Elisenda Alamany. In that meeting, among other things, the green light will be given to some of the promises made by the tandem during the campaign, such as the implementation of or the one that will evaluate the progress of the pacts with the socialists. The period for writing the drafts of the three papers that will be voted on in mid-March will also officially open. But the meeting will also measure the intensity of the internal pulse between Junqueras and his critics. For now, the three lists that competed with the former vice president They choose to mark distances in the draft roadmap and will use the route of amendments to introduce points such as separating organic positions from institutional ones. They also rule out being part of the monitoring commissions of the pacts with the PSOE and the PSC, on whose balance the support for the state and Generalitat budgets depends.
Junqueras took back the reins of the party after having to undergo two votes and garner 52% of support in the second round, in a very angry campaign where practically everything was presented as . New National Leftwhich brought together those close to former Secretary General Marta Rovira and the defenders of a change of faces in the leadership, obtained 42%. Two other candidates had been left along the way: New Fire () y we recover Barcelona, which did not pass the endorsement phase. The victory of former vice president It seems not to be enough when it comes to dealing with a party that is completely divided and with little apparent desire to close ranks with him, as had happened since he first received command in ERC in September 2011.
Despite the fact that all the candidates and the new leadership insist on the need to stitch the party back together after the turbulence of the last year ――, there is no moment of tranquility in sight in the Republican ranks. The mistrust has not been diluted with the Christmas break. An example of this is the way in which the composition of the drafting committees of the papers that are voted on this Saturday has been managed. In his day, the former vice president had accepted that those texts that are approved in the second phase of the congress be drafted jointly and not only by the winning list. Those from Godàs declined the invitation last Wednesday because they were only offered one seat in each of the groups. For example, the one who will be in charge of the statutory text has 11 members and the policy, 14.
.New Fire, Last Friday, he followed the same path as those from Godàs after deliberating the situation in an assembly of the promoter group and refused to have a presence in those commissions. In the party leadership they argue that, apart from the seat for former candidates, there is already an additional representation of other sensitivities, there is no majority of members of the current leadership and they do not want to enter into a game that they see as more typical of the race to choose the dome that to agree on the road map
The situation is identical in the commission to monitor the pacts with the socialists. The presidents of the parliamentary groups are there and Junqueras had invited other names to be proposed from the former candidates. ERC’s official position is that if there is no real progress in what was agreed upon in exchange for investing Pedro Sánchez and Salvador Illa – the transfer of Rodalies, the forgiveness of the debt of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund or the singular financing , among others – the accounts will not be supported either in Congress or in the Parliament. Voices from Nova Esquerra Nacional justify their absence because they consider the work of that group to be an exclusive task of the management and the National Council.
This Saturday’s photo of disunity will be Junqueras’ first setback in his attempt to create spaces to accommodate the different sensitivities of the party. The announcement, last Wednesday, that Josep Maria Jové agreed to continue leading the parliamentary group despite having aligned himself with Rovira, gave a certain message of rapprochement. The slamming of the door by those from Godàs and New FireHowever, it does not imply that they abstain from participating in the last phase of the congressional period. Both groups, together with Let’s recover Barelonaare preparing to fight in the amendments phase to stand up to the leadership led by Junqueras and influence their decisions. The three candidates will now take the opportunity to reflect on the strong points of their electoral programs in the race for the leadership of the party and include them in the texts. At the moment, two clear points are on the table: a regime of incompatibilities among the members of the leadership and the ideological struggle over what the political space of the party should be.
During the campaign, Junqueras had to witness how the other lists showed agreement on the idea of separating organic positions from institutional positions or from the candidates to occupy them. It is no secret to anyone that the new president of ERC aspires to govern in Catalonia. However, he is ineligible, because he is disqualified due to a conviction in the trial process and it is pending a decision whether or not to apply the amnesty. Added to this obstacle is now the real risk of a statutory veto of the party, since both New National Left as New Fire They plan to row to include the change.
Both platforms also plan to stand up to a group of militants, who are fighting for ERC to stop being a solely pro-independence party and put the republic as its objective, in order to be the central force of a broader sovereignism and expand its base. The other lists that participated in the race reject this approach, which they believe blurs a party that they believe should be part of the national left.
