Pere Aragonès traveled this Wednesday to Madrid with a very clear message: the solution to the Catalan political conflict is a referendum on self-determination. This is what he communicated to the Spanish government itself, which has mobilized to welcome him in his conference for the Siglo XXI Club. The Catalan president called for courage, to be "creative and imaginative" to find the formula, but to do it. "Dare to win or lose" he challenged, addressing the ministers who came to see him. The ERC leader shunned the debate on the date of the next dialogue table’s meeting, because now it is time to talk about "proposals" that "serve to move forward". For his part, he guaranteed that the commitment to negotiation is "honest and sincere" and that he honours it, assuming "important risks" and avoiding speculating with alternatives. No deadlines but no delays.
The conference of the Catalan president for the Siglo XXI Club is tradition. All presidents since Josep Tarradellas have done it during their mandate. The conference was in the centre of the Spanish capital, next to the Santiago Bernabéu football stadium, and was attended by important political representatives. The Spanish government spokeswoman and minister of Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, and the Spanish minister of Universities, Joan Subirats, attended the event. Deputies in Congress for Unidas Podemos, ERC, PDeCAT and EH Bildu also attended, but no one from Junts or the CUP. Other personalities attended too, such as the state secretary general of UGT (a major Spanish trade union), Pepe Alvárez, or the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero.
President Aragonès was in Madrid, but his head was in Scotland, in the Scottish way that he has chosen as a path. The "democratic transformation" that Spain needs, he warned, also involves "respect for the majority’s will to decide the political future of our country in a peaceful and democratic manner". Because this is precisely the "origin" of the conflict: the "inability shown by the Spanish state’s institutions to facilitate the demands of the majority of citizens, to decide how we want to live, without fear and in freedom". That is why he asked "to be creative and imaginative, in order to find the formula to make the referendum possible".
"The Spanish state, who defends that Catalonia continues to be part of Spain, must have the nerve. Imposition will not lead to any victory", assured the Catalan president, who directly addressed the Spanish government: "Dare to win or lose a referendum". That is why he has clung to the dialogue table, which he insisted is a "sincere bet". But as long as there are proposals and real content. "Speculating, delaying is not an option we can assume and only contributes to cast doubts on the renewal process".
Isabel Rodríguez at Pere Aragonès’s conference in Madrid - ACN
As he did in Saint Stephen’s day, speech Aragonès defended that 2022 must be the year in which "the political conflict starts to be unblocked" and the commitment to dialogue gives “results". Aragonès gave several warnings to the Spanish government. The main one, that it is time to enter into concreteness: "It is time to talk about proposals on how to solve the political conflict. What is holding back the solution is that there is no proposal from the Spanish State’s institutions". He warned that this may be the last chance: "The PSOE and Podemos must clearly understand that there will hardly be a second chance if the political conflict is not resolved now, through the ballot box"; and that, if there are no steps forward, "we will not give up our political project".
Aragonés ended the conference in the same way he started it: "I will always accept the results of the polls. If it is not favourable, we will accept it. As we have done so far. But what we are not willing to accept is the renunciation of the right to decide. The Spanish state has to dare to win or lose at the polls". And he concluded: "The exercise of the right to self-determination is inevitable".
"They will not go ahead against immersion".
During the conference, president Aragonès addressed other issues, such as linguistic immersion. The ERC leader charged against the campaign of the Spanish right and extreme right, who seek to "fracture Catalan society and win votes in the rest of the Spanish state". He also warned them that Catalan in the school is not to be touched" and that "they will not get away with it". He has also charged against a "highly politicized judiciary", which now attacks the Catalan school but has also done so with the Catalan Estatut or with multiple laws approved by the Parliament of Catalonia.
"Transparency" on the 2017 terrorist attacks
The declarations of the former Spanish police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, that link the Spanish National Intelligence Centre (CNI) with the 2017 terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils were mentioned in both the initial intervention and question time. Aragonès recalled that, despite the "credibility of the character" and the fact he is immersed in a judicial process, what he said is "extraordinarily serious". That is why he defended "maximum transparency" so that there are no shadows of doubt: "It is the way to make everything clear, because one cannot pretend nothing has happened ".