“It was said that it was impossible to repeal sedition, it was said that it was impossible to modify the crime of embezzlement,” claims the Catalan president
«Energy, perseverance and conviction». This is Pere Aragonès’s recipe for a 2023 in which he has self-imposed the objective of advancing towards amnesty for the courts and fugitives for the ‘procés’ and in which as the first stumbling block he will face the approval of some regional Budgets for those who do not The accounts come out in Parliament.
The President of the Generalitat addressed the Catalans for the second consecutive year on December 26 instead of the traditional 30th. He did so on the occasion of the festival of San Esteban, a martyr to Christianity now adopted by secessionism as a symbol of the independence of Spain. Aragonés expressed his chest that, through dialogue, Esquerra (ERC) has wrested from the Government of Pedro Sánchez the repeal of the crime of sedition and the reform of embezzlement. It was also a dart towards his former Junts partners, with whom Esquerra broke last October and who, faithful to the radical discourse of Carles Puigdemont and Laura Borràs, refuse to build any bridge with Madrid. Puigdemont himself, even if he denies it, could benefit from the legal change.
“It was said that it was impossible to repeal sedition, it was said that it was impossible to modify the crime of embezzlement,” claimed Aragonés, who insisted that progress is being made thanks to the dialogue table between the central and Catalan governments. “That is why – he added – now we must open a new phase of the negotiation and find a solution to the origin of the political conflict”. This next stage is in which the president of the Generalitat places an amnesty and an independence referendum agreed with the State. However, Aragonès’s plans collide head-on with a PSOE that flatly rejects either of these two demands as they are not contemplated in the Constitution.
“Now we must open a new phase of the negotiation and find a solution to the origin of the political conflict”
By way of pressure, the leader of Esquerra announced that in 2023 the Generalitat will promote a great citizen debate with a view to holding a new secessionist consultation. “A great conversation, with the whole of society to shape and visualize the consensus,” he said, which according to him, exists among the Catalans to decide at the polls their fit in the State. “It is the responsibility of all the parties involved, the Government of Catalonia and the State Government, to build a democratic path through dialogue, negotiation and agreement,” he concluded.
Aragonés avoided going back to the ‘procés’, a stage that Esquerra considers closed. The plan of the Republicans, as Oriol Junqueras and other Republican leaders have pointed out on different occasions, is to continue adding support to the independence movement so that its force in the medium or long term is unstoppable. Until this could happen, the president of the Generalitat appealed to “a majority in Catalonia that wants to decide democratically, freely and peacefully the political future of the country.” A majority, therefore, oblivious to unilateral processes or disturbances such as those registered in October 2019 after the Supreme Court condemned the courts of the ‘procés’.
«A majority in Catalonia wants to decide democratically, freely and peacefully the political future of the country
Autonomous budgets
The other large part of the President of the Generalitat’s speech was addressed to the parliamentary forces that oppose the approval of the regional Budgets. Aragonès would like the support of Junts, but the relationship with his former partners is broken.
The other option is the PSC of Salvador Illa. Not approving the accounts could trigger an electoral advance, a trick that neither the PSC nor Esquerra want to play in a year with local and general elections in between.
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