The presence of five presidents of the Generalitat of Catalonia - all of them, except for Pasqual Maragall, who suffers from Alzheimer's, and Artur Mas, who was unable to attend - to pay tribute to Pau Casals, the most universal Catalan musician, on the 50th anniversary of his death, in the abbey of Sant Miquel de Cuixà, a few kilometres from Prada de Conflent, was, fundamentally, an act of enormous symbolism. And of signals, with a Jordi Pujol who chooses to express himself on few occasions at his 93 years of age and gave his blessing to Carles Puigdemont in the complex political negotiation that has Spanish politics in the balance.
The chosen setting: the Benedictine monastery where Casals gave a concert in 1966, a favourite place of the abbot Escarré and among the favourites of another former president-in-exile, Josep Tarradellas, located in Northern Catalonia, since Carles Puigdemont cannot set foot in Spanish territory. The political moment, in the midst of negotiations for a possible investiture of a prime minister to lead a new Spanish government. And the full choir of past and present Catalonia politics, since the five presidents represented Convergència i Unió, the Catalan Socialists (PSC), Together for Catalonia (Junts) and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC).
When it is said that Catalonia has political characteristics that are different, that also includes the fact that a president like José Montilla wants to be present together with Carles Puigdemont in an institutional act like this, and vice versa. And that Montilla accepts with democratic normality when he is booed during his intervention, amid shouts of "Independence!" He could have chosen not to be there, make any excuse, but he was there together with Puigdemont, in an image that will surely be criticized from Madrid.
With the focus particularly on Pujol and Puigdemont, probably the first time that both have coincided as presidents in a face-to-face event in many years, since the first time that Pujol came out of his ostracism was in February 2022 at a University of Barcelona event held with the telematic presence of the president-in-exile. The veteran nationalist politician, who always makes a clear point when he decides to speak, highlighted the defence being made of Catalan in order to establish it as an official language in the European institutions, endorsed Puigdemont and acknowledged his role and prominence.
With the investiture in the air and the round of audiences that king Felipe VI has begun with party leaders in order to propose, or not, a candidate for investiture, Pujol, who has not hidden the differences he has had at times with Junts' positions, sent a strong message to the Spanish capital that Puigdemont is the one who is following his tradition and is the heir of his political space.