The ongoing crisis in the Catalan government between the two partners, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts), entered a new phase this past Tuesday after the latter of the two launched, in the form of a threat, a request for a motion of confidence to be tabled if the Republicans did not specify a timetable for compliance with the 2021 coalition agreement; an event followed on Wednesday by the president Pere Aragonès (ERC) dismissing his vice president Jordi Puigneró, of Junts, for not having informed him of the motion of confidence; and then on Thursday, the next episode was Junts's plan to open a negotiation until Sunday on compliance with the 2021 agreement. The hypothesis of this party leaving the government was immediately postponed despite the pressure on its executive, in the hours before lunch, by the supporters of the Junts president, Laura Borràs, and in the afternoon by the exiled minister and vice president of the Council of the Republic, Toni Comín, who even invoked president Carles Puigdemont in his final attempt to persuade.
The proposal made by Junts has the ability to skip over the conflict inherent in the confidence question and the Puigneró sacking, always difficult to digest in a party, and go to the real heart of the problem: does president Aragonès want, or does he not want, to comply with the agreements made with Junts? For the three aspects agreed on - first, the strategic unity between the political forces and the independence civil groups; second, the negotiation on an amnesty and self-determination; and finally, the coordination in the Spanish houses of parliament on issues that affect the Catalan government and sovereignty-related issues - for which can a calendar be specified, and in which can the president go beyond the generic commitment he made in Tuesday's parliamentary debate? It would not be difficult to reach an agreement, in theory, but, on the other hand, it seems impossible because it is already late in the game: the ERC ministers are feeling relieved to have initiated a break with their partners and have Junts halfway out the door, which, in fact, is an aspiration which many of their leaders have never bothered to hide ever since election night itself on February 14th, 2021, and which was frustrated by the result and by the coalition accords between Aragonès and Jordi Sànchez.
The game is being played to the very limit and when many have already given it up as over. Junts secretary general Jordi Turull has gained time, but it is not clear that it will do him any good, since the ball is fundamentally in the court of Aragonès. The first reaction on Thursday night from the presidency to Junts's negotiation plan showed no kind of enthusiasm and was very cool. The president is, however, wrong in suggesting that there is nothing new in it from Junts - it is another thing altogether that they are uncomfortable. In this push to win the narrative of the government breakdown in the eyes of public opinion, the ball has been passed from one side to the other: Tuesday's error in the confidence motion is something that Junts carries on its back; the sacking of Puigneró was excessive but it did not bring the initiative back to ERC, and, rather, it is now that the ball has been returned to Aragonès, who, having earlier broken his commitment with the third pro-independence party, the CUP, for a confidence motion, needs to show himself as solvent in fulfilling the agreements he has subscribed to.
Whether an agreement between Junts and ERC has been reached or not, on October 6th and 7th there will be a consultation of the Junts membership's views, as announced by Turull and Borràs, on the party's continuity in the executive. These dates could even be pushed back a few days if there was an agreement between the two parties. But the calendar today is the 6th and 7th. No one has specified what the question will be, nor the role of Turull and Borràs in this vote: whether they will advocate for a position, or stay in the background. The logic would have been for this momentous decision to have been less rushed and left in the hands of the party's national council meeting scheduled for the 22nd, as seemed to have been agreed. By shortening the deadlines, it will force a high-speed campaign that, in principle, robs time from the supporters of 'remain'. But that will depend on the negotiations with Aragonès, which have time until Sunday evening before going before the Junts executive on Monday.