Catalonia's pro-independence Republican Left (ERC) has asked the political group led by exiled president Carles Puigdemont, Together for Catalonia (JuntsXCat), to clarify "how they are going to put into effect their proposal" to invest the absent Puigdemont as president of the new Catalan government. "At the moment it is not easy", said ERC spokesperson Sergi Sabrià.
In an interview on radio station RAC1, Sabrià acknowledged that JuntsXCat is the pro-independence candidature which won most support in the recent Catalan election and that its preference is to reappoint Puigdemont as president, but that "those who won have to explain how they can turn this option into reality".
Sabrià also admitted that freeing the Catalan political prisoners held in Madrid jails will be a "complicated" task because "the decisions that the Spanish state takes are not judicial, they are political". The MP-elect reiterated that his party has always committed itself to accepting the results of the Catalan elections, while the Spanish state has "never told us if they will".
With regard to agreements on forming a new Catalan government, Sabrià stated there is now no other option except for the pro-independence forces to reach an accord, since the only way to bring an end to the application of Madrid's direct rule of Catalonia under article 155 is by "restoring transversality". In the same line, he added that "agreement has to be moved forward, and that means everyone from the CUP to the PDeCAT".
Sabrià did not want to make predictions on the possibilities that acting vice president Oriol Junqueras has of being released from Estremera prison in Madrid: "It will be complicated", he said, but on the other hand, people should "not lose hope". According to the ERC spokesman, there is an option for the prisoners to take part in the inaugural sessions of the Catalan Parliament, and because of this he urges fighting hard to materialise this possibility.
Sergi Sabrià expects that Oriol Junqueras will be the vice president of the new government, also explaining that if any member of the outgoing government wants to assume a different role from their previous posting they will be able to do so. Regarding the position of speaker in the Parliament, the ERC spokesperson said that "there is a high level of discretion being maintained in all the talks that are underway". However, when asked whether former speaker Carme Forcadell will repeat her role, he answered that she "is an option but not a certainty right now", since they are waiting for a decision by Forcadell herself due to her personal situation.
Finally, the ERC representative asserted that his party would never abandon the aspiration to become a Republic and that they "would not ask permission to move ahead in applying all the political tools that can help our people", as he considers that the pro-independence majority allows them to do this.