Catalan president Quim Torra - a deputy for Carles Puigdemont's JxCat (Together for Catalonia) party - and his vice president and economy minister Pere Aragonès, of ERC (Republican Left, led by Oriol Junqueras), have called an urgent meeting for Thursday, January 2nd, following a telephone conversation between the two this afternoon, according to Catalan government sources consulted by ElNacional.cat.
The meeting between the two leading figures in the Catalan executive will serve to analyze ERC's agreement with the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as new prime minister, and to address the tension that has blown up between the Catalan government partners on the last day of the year. Puigdemont's party has made several complaints about the talks between ERC and the PSOE which are to lead to dialogue between the Catalan and Spanish governments, under Quim Torra and Pedro Sánchez respectively. In particular, the party criticises ERC's claim to be speaking on behalf of the Catalan government.
In statements to the media this Tuesday morning, JxCat accused Junqueras' party of disloyalty and accused them of "weakening the independence movement" by accepting a PSOE-Podemos coalition government that aims for "a strong and united Spain." According to JxCat, giving Sánchez the go-ahead means "lowering expectations" and represents a step backward, to the Catalonia of 2014, prior to the first, unofficial independence consultation.
Following this press conference, in which JxCat's Laura Borràs made it clear that agreements reached by "one party on its own" do not commit the Catalan executive, ERC revealed recent frustrated attempts to contact Quim Torra to inform him of the details of the pact with the Socialists.
The criticism which has most disappointed ERC is the suggestion of disloyalty. With regard to this, they respond that, in fact, one of the most complex points in the negotiation was to persuade the PSOE to recognize Quim Torra as an interlocutor and they even brought contact with the Socialists to a halt until Sánchez agreed to make a phone call to the Catalan president.
Sources close to Quim Torra have told this newspaper that "one thing is what the ERC might agree on and another is to commit the Catalan government", adding that the Catalan executive is a two-party coalition. Torra will give this message to Aragonès at Thursday's meeting.