The first meetings of the executives of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts) and the first messages via the press: the Catalan government continues in the same state of indestructible poor health it has enjoyed since it was constituted in June 2021. The Junts leadership of Jordi Turull and Laura Borràs has asked Catalan president Pere Aragonès (ERC) to correct the government's course with respect to the objective of independence and that there be visible changes in the general policy debate that will be held in Parliament at the end of September. The magnitude of these changes will determine the next steps to be taken by Junts, starting with a consultation of the party grassroots on whether or not it will remain in the Catalan executive.
Summer is behind us and the new political year in Catalonia has opened with the same issues as when it closed in July with regard to the pro-independence parties. First observation, the left-wing, pro-independence CUP is no longer part of this block, after excluding itself when it refused to negotiate the government budget last winter. And it remains on the outer, having not adjusted its position in the slightest and holding ERC responsible for doing nothing from the presidency of the Generalitat to advance the pro-independence agenda. That this rupture is not tactical but deep-rooted is clearly evident. So much so that the CUP votes are no longer expected by the ERC-Junts bloc and Pere Aragonès has broken his commitment to the anti-capitalists to submit his leadership to a confidence motion at the midpoint of the legislature.
Second observation: ERC is once again talking about the suspended speaker of parliament, Laura Borràs, almost like a stuck record. It talks about what Borràs must do, the municipal elections and about Spanish politics, insisting on the path of dialogue and negotiation with the government of Pedro Sánchez. The left continues as if playing solitaire: no progress is made, the Sánchez government demonstrates a systemic egotism, but the course set by the Republicans has not been adjusted for many months and there is no will to do so. The fact that in the first meeting of the executive at the return of the summer it was decided to bring forward its national congress to this autumn and not hold it next year as planned, responds to a desire of the Oriol Junqueras-Marta Rovira leadership tandem to strengthen the organization well before the municipal elections in May.
Third observation: Junts still does not know very well what to do with the key, which it holds, to the continuity of the current Catalan government. The summer seems to have strengthened the idea of a significant majority of the party's executive to continue in the government. Jordi Turull is certainly on this wavelength, especially until the coming municipal elections. Among other reasons, because it would be incompatible to put up a candidacy, for example, in Barcelona, headed by Xavier Trias, and in the following weeks, for Junts to leave the government. The former mayor will surely demand tangible evidence that they are not going to unleash a surprise on him. Turull has to find the note that will help him harmonize an orchestra that at times sounds more strident than he would like, a pitch that is tuned in to its voters as much as possible and is able to resound throughout the central political space that it fails to fill today.