The president of the Generalitat and national coordinator of the ERC, Pere Aragonès, opened the ERC National Conference this Saturday -the congress of the independence party- softening, and much, his independence discourse and setting two priorities: on the one hand, fighting against the far-right and, on the other, to get the largest number of mayors in 2023. Aragonès has also pointed out that Ernest Maragall is his candidate to try to take Barcelona away from Ada Colau.
The National ERC Conference held at La Farga in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) began this Saturday at 10:00 with a standing ovation for its pardoned pro-independence leaders who have attended the congress for the first time since their release. Raül Romeva, Dolors Bassa and President Carmen Forcadell greeted the attendees who at no time in the morning shouted “independence”, a constant cry before and after October 1, 2017. This has been the first political conference with the leaders outside of prison, but also the first with a president of the Generalitat of ERC.
Aragonès tiptoed around the demands for self-determination in his speech. “Our goal is to serve citizens wherever they are from, however they want and speak the language they speak,” he began. A speech in which he did not address any rival party or make any reference to the so-called dialogue table with the Pedro Sánchez government. “We are the ones who shout little, but we make things happen. We know that a country does not advance with empty proclamations”, he said, in a reference to Junts per Catalunya, without citing them. The president warned that “the country advances by making decisions that are sometimes very difficult.”
He then limited himself to reminding the attendees of who, in his opinion, is the current ERC heir. He reviewed republican women and highlighted the past of socialist, republican, and catalanist leaders, and even recalled Paco Candel and Montserrat Roig, but did not say a word to Oriol Junqueras, who was not at the conference alleging illness, but who will attend tomorrow to close the congress. The president also defended that his party is the feminist banner and assured that one of his objectives is to “overthrow the patriarchy.” “We want a country that fights fascism and the extreme right. They will always have us in front of them: they will not pass, ”he proclaimed from the lectern of the stage. Then, he assured that Catalonia is a “host country” and expressed solidarity with Ukraine.
“In the next municipal elections this nonconformity will arrive and then there will be no coalition with Manuel Valls that prevents Ernest Maragall from reaching the Barcelona mayor’s office. But we will also achieve it in Santa Coloma, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Terrassa, Mataró… ”, he highlighted with a clear intention of defeating not only Barcelona in Comú but also the PSC in their fiefs of the metropolitan red belt. “In the next elections we have the challenge of replicating the ERC victory of a year ago. We have the future of the country in our hands. Let us move forward as our party has always done: feet on the ground and fist in the air, long live free Catalonia, long live the republic and long live freedom”, he concluded.
After Aragonés it was the turn of the general secretary, Marta Rovira, who intervened by videoconference from Geneva, where she has been for almost four years when she fled the night before testifying before testifying before the Supreme Court. Rovira did remember October 1, 2017. In fact, her speech was based on the Catalonia of that time. She recalled the shouts of the days before the illegal consultation, especially the slogan “they will not pass” and “we will vote.” The general secretary recognized that ERC has “learned lessons” from the illegal referendum and, crying with emotion, she assured that she feels very “proud” of her party: “ERC is a party with very good people. There are more and more of us and we are more prepared to assume what the people decide”.
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