The negotiations over the inauguration of the Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont are caught between two fronts. The former president, who has been a fugitive from Spanish justice since 2017, refines the list of demands that Junts per Catalunya puts on the table of the PSOE and Sumar to support the re-election of Pedro Sánchez. Meanwhile, its parallel government, the Consell de la República, has scheduled a vote on whether to block Spain’s ability to govern. “The president wears two hats, but he distinguishes exactly which one he has to wear,” says a person close to Puigdemont. In fact, it is not part of the Consell leadership’s plans to interfere in the agreements reached in Congress. Toni Comín, former adviser to the Generalitat, who traveled to Belgium with the former president and serves as number two in the Consell of the Republic, points out that the “coincidence” of decisions was not sought by the management of the company, but by its member organizations and states that the result of the vote must be interpreted on the basis of a “reasonable political reading”.
The consultation with the bases of the Independence Unit, which Puigdemont presides from Waterloo, will be carried out electronically between October 17th and 23rd and raises a clear question: “Does the Consell de la República need to encourage the blockade of the presidential inauguration?” Spanish state by the Catalan independence parties?” The Consell has 103,000 members and is a second-tier actor within Catalan separatism, with less strength and less appeal than Òmnium and the ANC. However, the judgment made through the consultation is relevant because the president of the company plays a crucial role in the negotiations to release the investiture. He personally leads Junts’ movements to condition the vote on the seven congressional seats the party won on June 23.
Puigdemont serves as President of the Consell and, although he does not hold a position in the Junts’ organizational chart, is the undisputed leader of the formation. His decision was that the party supported the appointment of Francina Armengol as chief executive. Former Generalitat councilor Toni Comín, like Puigdemont, plays a dual role. He combines the position of Vice-President of the Consell with that of Junts MEP. In addition, the party has chosen him as Sumar’s interlocutor at the investiture talks. “In order to think about what impact the vote in the Consell can have on the negotiations, we first have to vote and see what the result is,” says Comín. “It is good to have these internal regulatory standards, but then a sensible political reading must be made,” he defends.
The Consell de la República’s internal code provides for the President’s obligation to “establish and implement the general guidelines for the actions of the Government and to ensure their continuity.” Article 336 obliges members of the company’s government to “avoid any situation of conflict of interest.”
The debate comes at a time of certain upheavals within the Consell. Toni Comín was singled out by a group of members who accused him of being motivated by “personal interests” and even taking advantage of the organization of events related to the independence movement: “We have to ask ourselves if the suppliers benefit.” These representation expenses, the organization of events and the multimedia technical equipment were not a business for a small circle of people who are close to the Vice President,” critics emphasize.
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Private initiative
In 2018, Puigdemont founded the Consell de la República, a private initiative posing as the “Catalan National Authority,” with the aim of justifying the result of the illegal referendum of October 1, 2017 “until it can be put into effect.” . Since then, the Consell has tried to take on the role of a shadow government without being subject to Spanish legislation, and has even gone so far as to promote a Catalan identity card – priced at six euros for digital mode and 12 euros if you want the card too physically have. If ever there was one, the unity has lost the character of a union of the independence movement and is basically linked to Junts per Catalunya. Toni Castellà and Aurora Madaula, both Junts deputies in Parliament, appear in the Consell control committee. The singer-songwriter Lluís Llach is also there. A source close to the leadership of Esquerra Republicana points out that the rejection of the Consell by the Republicans is “instinctive”.
Attorney Teresa Vallverdú is part of the Consell’s management body. He points out that whether it is appropriate to call a consultation at this time or not, the company’s governance hands are tied and therefore the internal code is established. Any member can promote a debate and if they add 1% of supporters, which is a thousand supports, the issue must be put to a vote by the base. “Whatever is decided later will be binding on the Consell government and not on anyone else,” Vallverdú reasons. Toni Comín makes a similar argument.
Puigdemont’s number 2 argues that the Consell is “an organization whose working principles are democratic radicalism”. Comín takes the opportunity to address the accusations of authoritarianism that some members made against the management following the announcement of the dissolution of the Assembly of Representatives, dubbed the shadow parliament of Catalonia. Consell management claims that the assembly has lost functionality and that a new structure needs to be considered. “This arrogant and Spanish approach is typical of the leadership of political parties with little or no internal democracy and is contrary to the values of the republic in which we want to live,” the dissidents replied in a letter.
Whether or not to dissolve the assembly will be put to a vote by members between October 11th and 16th, shortly before they will be asked whether the Consell should be activated to block the investiture.
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