Aragonès demands the State not use the PP-Vox threat as an "excuse" not to advance in negotiations

MadridPere Aragonès puts pressure on Pedro Sánchez from Madrid to move forward at the dialogue table. The Catalan president has given a conference in the Spanish capital in which he has asked the president of the State government –without using his name– "what his proposal is" to resolve the political conflict and has asked him not to use the threat of PP and Vox as an "excuse" not to take advantage of "the opportunity". According to Aragonès, the current context provides an ideal moment to resolve Catalonia's fit in Spain and has urged the PSOE to face it. "Dare to win" but also to face the "possibility of losing," he stressed in his speech. The Republican leader has defended that Catalonia's belonging to the State has to be decided "democratically and not by means of imposition".

Sánchez has for days been downplaying the urgency of holding the second meeting of the negotiating table since Aragonès took over at the Generalitat. Last September 15, the first meeting took place and it was agreed to negotiate without deadlines and with discretion, but it was agreed that at the beginning of this year there would be a new meeting. The head of the Catalan executive did not want to set dates because he believes it is the "contents" that are really important. Thus, Aragonès has again brought up amnesty and the referendum. "We will renounce to deciding the political future of the country," he stressed. The Catalan president has pointed out that this is the position of the Catalan government and has urged the PSOE to present theirs.

"The question is: what is the State's proposal? Does the State have any proposal to cover the great consensus that exists in Catalonia? Is it willing to recognise Catalonia as a nation? Is it willing to protect schools and leave students in peace? Is it willing to allow external action and allow us to relate with institutions of other states? Is it willing to respect laws approved by Catalan institutions?", Aragonès asked insistently, before the spokesperson of the Spanish government and member of the dialogue table, Isabel Rodríguez.

With this message the Republican leader has wanted to convey that the position of the Catalan government is "sincere", in relation to the negotiating table. He has asked not to "speculate with the dates" and has insisted on not making "excuses" to get to work. Aragonès has accepted that the "context is not easy", as he stated that in front of them stands "the extreme right and the far right". "We guarantee that Catalonia will always be in any democratic front against the far right," he has noted, but has asked that this not be a pretext to avoid a "sincere" negotiation. "There will not be a second chance. It is the best scenario," he added.

Catalan in schools "will not be touched"

Beyond independence, Aragonès has wanted to make a closed defence of the "country's consensuses", among which he has placed that of the Catalan school model. He has been forceful in denouncing that the judiciary has acted as a legislative "third chamber" and as an "alternative to the majority decisions of Parliament". "One example is the ruling on the Statute of Autonomy and the latest is on language," said the president of the Generalitat, who has criticised the "political campaign against the Catalan education system out of electoral interests outside Catalonia." "Those who want to benefit from anti-Catalanism will not achieve their goals. They will not fracture the Catalan school because the project of the country is much stronger than any attack from the right," he insisted.