The Northern Catalonia town of Elna has provided the stage, full of symbolism, that the Catalan president-in-exile, Carles Puigdemont, has chosen to make official his decision to seek the presidency of the Generalitat of Catalonia as head of the list for Together for Catalonia (Junts). His candidacy has been taken for granted since he noted that the schedule for the passing of the amnesty law, which must complete its passage through the Spanish houses of parliament at the end of May, would allow him to be present at the Catalan parliamentary session where MPs vote to select the next president. This Thursday, however, he made the announcement in front of the leadership of Junts, and with a thousand people filling the Elna Town Hall and the seating installed outside, in front of a giant screen.
The pro-independence politician affirmed that the upcoming election in Catalonia presents a decisive choice, and an opportunity to bring Catalonia out of the paralyzing lethargy of so many years of repression, and he warned that it requires a "clear and uncomplexed leadership project that speaks on equal terms with the Spanish state, to move away from resignation and defeatism and build a shared future with self-respect and self-exigency". "The first choice that I face is very personal," admitted Puigdemont who recalled that he is a Member of the European Parliament and that his intention, up till now, was to continue fighting from there for the interests of Catalonia in Europe.
He added, however, that the key point was when he could not explain, even to himself, that after six years now in exile, he could not evade this responsibility for reasons of personal comfort. "That's why I've decided to stand", he responded. To make clear his commitment to the candidacy, he announced that he was formally resigning from being part of the party list to the European Parliament.
"Today I begin the countdown to the return, which only makes sense if one puts one's self at the service of the country", proclaimed Puigdemont who assured that, if he is designated for investiture, he will return to Catalonia, even if the judges refuse to apply the amnesty.
Unity
In his speech, the president defended a unitary list of Junts and ERC, because he was convinced that when the independence movement progressed the most, it was when they led it together. "Until now, no one has been able to show me any benefit for the country, or for our fellow citizens, from disunity and scrapping between us," he asserted.
He admitted that a unitary list has many resistances and that there is not enough time to overcome them, but he asserted that there are people who are pushing for this unity. For all that, he affirmed that the candidacy he wants to lead must go beyond the Junts party and incorporate profiles from other options, with new figures of reference, which will allow the people to regain their trust in the Catalan institutions.
"I am perfectly aware of the difficulties and the general situation of our country. No one disputes that the responses to be made cannot be simple and that it will take a long time to reorient policies that no longer work and regroup consensuses within society to undertake the changes that are necessary", he admitted, but he decided to move away from simplification and formulas that are too easy and he warned that the situation will require time, and that without leadership it will not be possible to go far. "Leading means deciding, assuming the responsibility of leading policies without complexes when it is necessary to do so, from a project that is ours and does not subject our institutions and our policies to the country's strategies", he stressed.
Puigdemont appeared at the event accompanied by his wife, Marcela Topor, and before starting the event greeted the public outside and was met with chants of "President!" and "Independence!" "We're at home, it's not something forced when we say that, we feel it from the bottom of our hearts," he said when he took the floor.
The president spoke of the two elections that will take place in the coming months, one Catalan, and the other European; he asserted that they are of great importance for Catalonia's future as a country and for the European project; and warned that the two elections should have been held at the same time. "But President Aragonès considered that there are more weighty reasons to do it in another way, with a calendar of suddenness that forces us to make transcendent decisions with very little time. That's why I'm here," he explained.
Puigdemont asserted that nothing he has done and decided these six and a half years can be understood without the reasons that led him and his colleagues to go into exile. "It was necessary, above all, to protect the institutions of our country and the sovereign decision of the people of Catalonia to proclaim independence," he explained. He recalled that the Spanish state unleashed "a general repression" with decisions that harmed "all Catalans", including those who "applauded the beatings and rejoiced in prison and exile". "They were aiming to chastise and to mock, so we had to act to prevent the institution of the presidency of the Generalitat from falling into their clutches", he replied.
He explained that in order to prevent the institution from being a hostage or a bargaining chip, he tried to maintain the perspective with which he went into exile, which allowed him to maintain his position in times of great adversity; he referred to the personal costs that the Catalan exiles have had to pay and the pressures they have been subjected to and that they have been able to bear because they were clear about the reasons that made them go into exile and because they had the support of their families and the complicity of thousands of Catalans.
"Six and a half years later all attempts to drag us down a path of resignation have failed; the extradition attempt has failed; and all attempts to seduce us with pardons or happy solutions have also failed."
The event was presented by the mayor of Elna, Nicolàs Garcia, "as the mayor of a Catalan town, which has always welcomed and will welcome all those who have a progressive commitment to identity, culture and the Catalan language, and all those persecuted, exiled for defending democracy and the right of a people to decide their future".
Among the audience, the president of Junts, Laura Borràs; the general secretary, Jordi Turull; with most of the members of the party's executive and deputies in Congress and the Senate, in addition to representatives of the municipal world with Xavier Trias at the head.