One day after the failed investiture of Pere Aragonès, and aware that negotiations will now resume between the Republican Left (ERC) and Together For Catalonia (Junts) to attempt to come to an agreement, the Popular Unity Candidature (CUP) warned that "any departure" from the agreement signed with ERC would be "unacceptable for CUP and also for the country".
In an interview aired on TV3 Xavier Pellicer pointed out that the agreement between ERC and CUP is "absolutely minimal". Asked about whether the anti-capitalists will participate in future negotiations to include Junts in the agreement, he did not clarify but warned that "we will be wherever it is necessary".
However, he refused to be drawn on the possibility of CUP changing its vote, because they are confident that the agreement will not be changed. The MP said that his party is interested in pursuing negotiations on other issues, which need to be developed in greater depth. He referred to the policing and country structures.
However, Pellicer also warned that the three pro-independence parties must understand that "in the face of the triple crisis" in Catalonia "it is necessary to take a stand to tackle it", something, he said, which "is made clear" in the agreement with ERC. As an example, he referred to evictions or "the economic devastation that will unfold when job retention schemes come to an end in May", to argue that they will not tolerate any departure from the agreement. "Otherwise, we will leave the country in a situation of poverty that will not allow us to go forward," he regretted.
CUP‘s future role
Pellicer also pointed out that his party’s aim is "to guide the new legislature towards another confrontation with the Spanish state" and that the "minimal agreement reached must be fully respected". He regretted that ERC and Junts are sitting at the negotiating table with the Spanish government, stating that this “alienates” them from his party’s position. One must recall, however, that in the agreement between ERC and CUP, a two-year deadline for negotiation with the state was established.
On CUP’s role in this legislature and the possibility that they will become part of the new government of the Generalitat, the anti-capitalist MP did not comment, but insisted that the party is "completely open to playing any role that might be necessary". He also pointed out that this will be an issue that the party's activists will debate when the time comes.