The institutional message from the president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, on the fifth anniversary of the 1st October independence referendum has stressed two main ideas: the need for unity in the Catalan independence movement and the clarity agreement. Initially, the address was supposed to embrace an institutional event with all the members of the Catalan executive present. But the crisis between coalition partners ERC and Junts changed the plans, and Aragonès appeared alone. It is in this context that he stretched out his hand to his partners: "We must find one another again. Work positively again on what unquestionably unites us. On what today still arouses all our pride. We must find unity again through the broad consensus that Catalonia must decide freely, collectively and in peace, what the country's political future should be."
On self-determination, the president of the Generalitat insisted on his Clarity Agreement proposal, greeted with little enthusiasm in Parliament this week, "to determine when and how Catalonia should be able to exercise the right to decide again". "We held the referendum on October 1st and we will make it possible for Catalonia to vote again," he affirmed. And to do so, the longed-for unity will be needed. Why was October 1st, 2017, possible? "It was possible thanks to the great alliance between institutions, civil society and citizens. An unbreakable alliance in which everyone played their part. Working together. With trust. With complicity," he claimed.
"Trust", key word
It seems that it is no coincidence that Aragonès appealed to "trust", since this was the reason he alleged for dismissing his vice president Jordi Puigneró this week: he lost "trust" in his number two government figure because he had not notified him of Junts's intentions. The president of the Junts parliamentary group, Albert Batet, threatened to submit the head of the Catalan executive to a confidence question in the general policy debate. A threat that did not please ERC at all and of which Puigneró had not said a word to the president.
As well, Aragonès made another subtle comment in support of the dialogue table. While recalling the figures of Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Carme Forcadell, he expressed the need to do everything in his power "to put an end to all forms of repression". "And that's why we're working for an amnesty," he replied, referring to one of the points at issue at the negotiating table that the Catalan government maintains with the Spanish executive. At the moment, no progress has been made on this matter.
Early this Saturday afternoon, the presidency department of the Generalitat confirmed that, although the ERC party would be present in this afternoon's 1-O rally at the Arc de Triomf, president Aragonès himself would not be attending the demonstration.