The left-wing pro-independence party CUP will attempt to stop Quim Torra's Catalan government from settling into a comfortable routine as just another autonomous region of Spain - instead of moving forward to implement the Catalan republic declared in 2017. To this end, the CUP have closed the door on any negotiation of support for Catalonia's annual budget if there no change in current "autonomist" policies. This is what the party decided at a special meeting of its political council this Saturday in the Catalan town of Palamós. The decision taken today will have to be fleshed out at another meeting in November.
“The four CUP deputies will attempt to prevent an "autonomist" government from becoming consolidated”, said party spokesperson Lluc Salellas, at the conclusion of the meeting. However, no details have yet been given on how the parliamentary group will act in practice. One of the options on the table was that of leaving their seats empty in the majority of parliamentary debates in the Catalan chamber. This will have to be decided over the next weeks, but it would imply a definitive break between the CUP, or Popular Unity Candidature, and the other two pro-independence parties Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and Republican Left (ERC). On the possibility of demanding hypothetical elections, Salellas recalled that this step is not in the party's hands.
For the moment, the CUP deputies will vote against everything which, in their view, implies continuity for the "autonomist" politics. The CUP spokesperson stated that a clear change of strategy by the Catalan government would be necessary in order for the left-wing party to sit down for talks with the government.
Salellas described how the CUP wants to "shift the focus" from the institutions to the street, which would make it possible to have "the maximum muscle in the street" when the referendum trial and verdicts take place. The party considers that neither the Catalan government nor the JxCat and ERC parliamentary groups are following the line of the “mandate received on the 1st, 3rd and 27th October” - referring to the dates of the 2017 independence referendum, the "national stoppage" two days later and the proclamation of Catalonia's independence at the end of the same month
Meanwhile, regarding the negotiation of the Catalan government budget for 2019, the left-wing group have discarded starting talks on giving their parliamentary support. “It is very clear that we can't work for this budget”, said Lluc Salellas, also pointing out that JxCat and ERC “are searching for other alliances and strategies” which don't require the CUP.
The CUP spokesman warned that that “the route of civil disobedience is the only way we can reach the independence of our people”. As well as calling for mobilization, Salellas called for the creation of an “antifascist and democratic front” to fight against the rise of the extreme right and of attacks by Spanish nationalists.