It was an open secret and it’s now official. The former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont has confirmed that he will choose to preside over Junts at the congress that the party will hold this weekend. This was communicated personally to the current president of the party, Laura Borràs, in a meeting that both held this Wednesday in Waterloo (Belgium) and which served to remove the former president of the Parliament from the formal leadership of the party.
Borràs, who has presided over the formation since 2022, now takes a backseat after his conviction for corruption. The former president of the Parliament will take a step back from congress to head the new Junts foundation.
In a video sent to the media, Puigdemont insisted that Junts is “the alternative to socialist institutional hegemony” as well as “the strongest political instrument of the independence movement.” The former president has called to “grow in ideological space and social and territorial implementation” and to “move forward without resignation” towards independence.
The former president thus confirms his commitment to lead the party after ensuring in the last campaign that he would leave politics if he did not become president. “I don’t see myself as head of the opposition at all,” Puigdemont said in April, when he pointed out that his intention, if he were not president, would be to stick to the “public activity” of a former president. His amnesty frustrated by the Supreme Court has changed his plans.
Puigdemont, without any organic position until now, has maintained power in Junts during Borràs’ time at the head of the party. His opinions have always been decisive in resolving internal crossroads, such as when he endorsed the departure of the Government with a tweet or opted to facilitate the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez and the negotiation with the PSOE in exchange for the amnesty.
That influence will have organic translation after the Calella conclave this weekend. Puigdemont will leave behind the Executive of commitment between those close to Borràs and the survivors of the old Convergència to configure a completely tailored direction. Among other issues, the new management will have to decide whether Junts maintains its support for Sánchez.
Borràs’ formal leadership has achieved important victories, such as the departure of Aragonès from the Government, although the organic control of the party throughout his stage has been maintained by the general secretary, Jordi Turull, who will repeat his position with the new presidency of Puigdemont.
Borràs’s decline accelerated when, after the general elections, Puigdemont created a steering committee parallel to the formal structures in the party. A command bridge tailored to the leader’s taste and who has made the main decisions of the formation since then.
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