ERC spokesperson Marta Vilalta during Monday’s press conference Enric Fontcuberta (EFE)
Esquerra Republicana supports the pro-independence mobilizations to protest the summit meeting between Spain and France that will take place in Barcelona next week. “We will use the summit to make it clear that the independence movement is still alive and that we will continue to stand for self-determination and amnesty,” Republican spokeswoman Marta Vilalta said on Monday. “There is no normal situation in Catalonia,” Vilalta said while sending a message to La Moncloa: “The Spanish government is wrong in its interpretation of reality, the independence movement has not disappeared.”
The ERC’s position is a gesture to the call to action made by Carles Puigdemont last week when he called for mobilizations in the streets ahead of the January 19 Spanish-French event. “We participate in the mobilizations aimed at claiming what we want: the Catalan Republic,” declared the ERC spokesman. The position clashes with the rapprochements to government that Esquerra is seeking in the House of Representatives, and contrasts with the distance marked by the ruling party in the Generalitat, with the pro-independence movement’s most excited voices, during the demonstrations of the last Diada. Esquerra did not attend the rallies called for by the Separatist units at the time, claiming it was not a cross-sectional call. “If the goal is independence, mobilization is necessary,” said Carles Puigdemont at the time, questioning Esquerra’s independence movement.
Pere Aragonès’ government has repeatedly shown its reservations about the Consell per la República commanded by Puigdemont, a suspicion that widened the distance between the ERC and junts until it led to the collapse of the coalition in the Generalitat. Esquerra maintains his reticence towards the Consell per la República, but has not hesitated to support the fugitive former president’s call for mobilization now. Òmnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) have also announced that they will take part in the mobilizations against the next summit in Barcelona, where a meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Emmanuel Macron is planned.
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