Catalan nationalism is taking a gamble in Northern Catalonia: does it have a chance or is it headed for failure?

BarcelonaCatalan nationalism in Northern Catalonia will face a test this Sunday in the municipal elections. Beyond understanding the state of the movement, the keystone is Perpignan. The northern Catalan capital is the largest city in France with a mayor from the far-right National Rally party, Louis Aliot, who recently told EFE that he is not "anti-Catalan," only "anti-independence," and that he defends "Catalan culture," despite having vetoed a wedding conducted in Catalan because he demanded French. to have cornered Sant Jordi in the middle of his progressive change of the cityWith over 120,000 inhabitants, Perpignan accounts for a quarter of the population of Northern Catalonia, which is approaching half a million, and is the main battleground for Catalan nationalism, which is also divided there. Perpignan's importance helps explain why the leader of the French far right, Jordan Bardella, and the far left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, have both landed there. How does Catalan nationalism approach the elections?

The Catalan nationalist parties running are Unitat Catalana – allied with Junts – and Sí al País Català-Ouis au Pays Catalan, with their own leading candidates or as part of lists headed by national parties. One of the paradigmatic cases is Elna, which has had a mayor... the communist Nicolas GarciaA staunch Catalan nationalist, accompanied by Pere Manzanares, a veteran Catalan nationalist, as deputy mayor. Both are giving way to André Trives as the mayoral candidate, who has a northern Catalan sensibility and incorporates Catalan nationalist members. In a conversation with ARA, Manzanares asserts that "for years Catalan nationalism has had symbolic weight, but politically it has very little" and that "the majority of people don't vote taking identity into account." And he is not at all optimistic about Perpignan: "I don't see a chance, the left is divided, the right is divided, and Aliot has it very easy. The only unknown is whether it will be challenged [by the disqualification he has following the court conviction“,” he asserts.

In fact, Manzanares points out that with the growth of the National Rally, they might even end up winning in some large cities, “like Marseille.” In the last legislative elections, the four seats for Northern Catalonia went to the far right. However, in towns like Elna, the triumph of the Catalan nationalists’ allies could be repeated, and also in other towns. The co-president of Unitat Catalana, Jaume Pol, tells this newspaper that he is very optimistic, also in the capital: “[Mayor Louis] Aliot will be first in the first round and we hope to be second and to be able to have the support of the other right-wing and left-wing lists. “We have an opportunity,” he emphasizes.

In Perpignan, the cross-party, center-right, and environmentalist candidacy led by Agnès Langevine and the centrist Annabelle Brunet, with the support of the French Socialist Party, includes several members of Unitat, such as co-president Mateu Pons and Pol's daughter, Melina. Furthermore, the number two on the ticket, Brunet, “speaks Catalan very well and organized Puigdemont's rally in Perpignan in 2020,” Pol points out.

The chaos of Perpignan

Unitat Catalana is also fielding candidates in Prada, Argelès (where they hold a deputy mayor position), Cabestany, and Salelles (where they have party leaders running for mayor, although they are formally running as independents). They are also running in Les Banys and Elna, with Mayor Maria Costa (a close ally of Puigdemont and also a former leader of the Council for the Republic), and in Millars. Unitat Catalana maintained a presence in Perpignan until the last term of former mayor Jean-Marc Pujol, when the party broke ties with the conservative mayor. Brunet served as Pujol's deputy mayor during that term. However, Unitat Catalana's prominence dates back to before 1993, with Mayor Joan Pau Alduy, who allied himself from the outset with numerous councilors such as Pol, Jaume Roure, Virginie Barre, and Brice Lafontaine, among others.

Regarding the Sí al País Català (Yes to the Catalan Country) candidacy, its leader, Jordi Vera, maintains that they are running in some thirty candidacies with nine lead candidates, including himself in Forques, but also in Portús, Pesillà, Toès, Ribesaltes, Passa, Finestret, Llupià, and Clairà – and they have members in Elna, Trullars, Pià, Portvendres, El Soler, and Le Tec. Overall, he faces the elections "with optimism," "the first time with so many candidates with such a good chance," when "years ago it was unthinkable that a Catalan nationalist could head a list and win." In Perpignan, however, where they have allied themselves with the right-wing Republicans and the center-right Bruno Nogayrère list, he sees no options: "I'm very pessimistic about what will happen because there's no one with any stature to counter the National Rally," he asserts. Vera laments that there are four left-wing candidacies, but above all that the alternative will be difficult in the second round because "they all detest each other." "We're playing for the future, six years from now, because there's nothing to gain right now. We're making a bet on the future and, if possible, getting someone elected," he points out.

"Nothing in common"

Sí al País Catalán and Unitat Catalana haven't even spoken to each other and disagree on their respective alliances, with the former lamenting the latter's left-wing candidacies, while the latter criticize their rival's right-wing leanings. Beyond ideological differences, there's a partisan clash and recriminations over past issues: Jordi Vera comes from Convergència in Northern Catalonia, but his current party was born in response to the regional divisions established in the last decade and distances itself from Unitat Catalana, with whom he says he "has nothing in common." Unitat, allied with Junts, feels alienated from Vera's approach, which they don't see as useful for defending Catalan identity, and also laments Nogayrère's decidedly non-Catalan role.