ERC and CUP finalise a pre-agreement for the investiture of Aragonès and put pressure on Junts

BarcelonaThe week that should be decisive to solve the negotiations for the investiture of Pere Aragonès begins with a pre-agreement between two of its players: ERC and CUP. This Sunday evening ERC has sent a statement in which it announced a principle of agreement with the anti-capitalists on national and social issues. CUP has confirmed the pre-agreement, but has announced that before validating it they will need to receive grassroot backing, as ARA advanced. CUP will make its position public on Thursday. The two formations had intensified meetings last week and had seen each other daily to try to put the negotiations on track. The talks were progressing at a better pace between ERC and CUP than with JxCat. In fact, the pre-agreement is a way to put pressure on Carles Puigdemont's party, which in recent days has floated the possibility of postponing the full investiture if they did not reach an agreement with ERC to form a government

What have the parties agreed? To begin with, to resolve the Catalan conflict, the two parties have agreed to on "a new democratic attack" against the State, "preferably in the form of a referendum" during this term, as ERC explains in their statement, although they do not specify how this referendum would have to be or what the alternative would be if it could not be developed. Before starting the electoral campaign of 14-F, CUP had proposed a referendum before 2025. The strategy would be developed in parallel to the negotiation with the State that ERC promoted more than a year ago with the creation of the negotiating table.

Precisely this issue had also discussed in recent days because while JxCat defends setting a deadline for the negotiating table to come up with proposals, ERC rejects it. However, ERC is open to establishing a series of indicators to assess whether there was progress. In addition, one of the points of friction between the three negotiators had been the coordinating body that the pro-independence parties wanted to create to share the pro-independence roadmap and avoid the disagreements of the previous legislature. The role that the Consell per la República had to play was one of the obstacles, because while JxCat wanted this to be precisely the pro-independence coordinating body, ERC and the CUP rejected it and were in favour of creating a new one or, at the very least, reformulating the Consell.

In addition to the national question, ERC and CUP have also advanced on issues such as housing, health and the public order system. Thus, the two parties have agreed to work to stop the housing emergency and have agreed to "promote a Catalan legislative agenda on housing" and also "update protocols to prevent evictions of people at risk of vulnerability". In the communiqué, however, they do not specify the measures to do so. In terms of health they have proposed to get 25% of the health budget is allocated to primary care. In addition, they have also agreed to introduce changes in the model of management of public order that include, among other measures, to suspend the use of foam bullets until police protocols are not made public and create a study commission in the Parliament on the model of public order in Catalonia.

Pressure on JxCat

In recent weeks, ERC and CUP had met daily to try to make progress in the negotiations. CUP held a conference on Wednesday to increase the pressure and demand speed from both the Republicans and JxCat a few days before March 26, the deadline for the first investiture debate. At the moment an understanding has only been attained between two of the three parties involved and this pre-agreement does not mean that the investiture will go ahead. JxCat is missing, with whom ERC plans to share the Government - CUP does not plan to enter the executive for the time being. CUP has had few meetings with Junts in recent days - they have met in some sectoral meetings Home Affairs, for example - because the relationship broke down after the negotiations to choose the Speaker. ERC and JxCat have been meeting, but the conversations have not been so fluid. Junts sources see this principle of agreement as "a political manoeuvre" to pressure them to "lower" the conditions. "We have to continue negotiating," they say, and stress that ERC needs them to form a government, since with CUP alone they would not obtain the necessary votes.