ERC, a party only for separatists?

Barcelona"Esquerra will have to face the debate on the convenience of ceasing to be an exclusively pro-independence political party," wrote Joan Tardà In an article in the ARA published on January 2. The former ERC spokesperson in Congress turned this thesis into an amendment to the management's presentations to be debated and approved at the congress on March 15 and 16 in Martorell. Tardà proposed changing article 2 of the party statutes, which defines what Esquerra is. The leadership was reluctant and, as ARA has been able to learn from informed sources, the former Republican deputy has finally given up on modifying the statutes, but the executive headed by Oriol Junqueras has promised to make a counterproposal to incorporate it into the strategic report. In this way, the party closes the debate on modifying the statutes, but another one opens: Should ERC be a party only for independentists?

"Esquerra Republicana aims for the independence of the Catalan and Aran Countries, and the achievement of a more just and supportive society, without inequalities between people and territories," establishes article 2 of the party statutes. Ágora, the internal current promoted by Tardà, proposed redefining Esquerra as a "party that brings together pro-independence and pro-sovereignty people committed to the shared desire to achieve the right to self-determination in order to make the construction and proclamation of the Catalan Republic a reality". Now, this text has been turned into a proposal, to which the ARA has had access, to be incorporated into the roadmap, in which they defend ERC as a party "that brings together pro-independence and pro-sovereignty people committed to the shared desire to achieve the right to self-determination and to make a more just, free and supportive society a reality". The amendment adds that the roadmap that the party has set for itself until 2031 should be shared "between pro-independence and pro-sovereignty militants".

Tardà had presented his amendment to article 2 at the Baix Llobregat territorial meeting, which met on Wednesday, and it was there that, according to various sources in the know, he withdrew it from the statutory report to relocate it to the strategic report. If the leadership does not reach an agreement with Tardà, the content of the amendment could be debated in the plenary session of the congress and, if it achieves a majority, it would be incorporated into the party documents. Since last week, ERC has been debating in its territorial assemblies – the last one was held this Saturday in the Pyrenees – the amendments that have been presented in the three reports: the political, the strategic and the statutory. For an amendment to be debated at the congress on March 15 and 16 or to be negotiated with the leadership, it must first be validated by at least one territorial assembly.

Growth among non-separatists

For some time now, ERC has been the pro-independence party with the largest number of voters who do not declare themselves pro-independence. This is shown by the different barometers of the Centre for Opinion Studies (CEO): since 2018, the percentage of Republican voters in favour of a state of their own has ranged between 85% and 75% and, in the latest barometer at the end of 2024, non-independence voters in ERC were at 2000 and 2000 in 2010. In fact, the Republicans were the ones who most advocated the thesis of broadening the pro-independence base with messages directed at this pro-sovereignty electorate but opposed, for the moment, to independence. However, this has also earned them criticism from parties such as Junts, which claim that the strategy has not served to broaden the base, but only to increase their votes (before the drop in the last elections). This week, ERC spokesman Gabriel Rufián also criticised the fact that ERC has not "wanted" to open up the party to more profiles like him. "I should not be Esquerra's snowflake," he said in an interview on The thing about Évole which airs this Sunday night.

Tardà's proposal had raised many misgivings within the party, especially among the candidates who ran against Oriol Junqueras, such as Nueva Izquierda Nacional, Foc Nou and Col·lectiu 1-O. All of them, in general terms, were in favour of not touching this article or redefining Esquerra more clearly as pro-independence. Despite refusing to modify the statutes, the idea that Junqueras defends for Esquerra is similar to that of the former Republican spokesman: that it be a party that has independence as its objective, but where pro-independence and non-pro-independence leftists can fit in. However, some voices in the leadership interpret that the way that Tardà proposed to change the statutes was not the ideal one, because it would strain the seams of a party in which the crisis it has experienced is still lingering.

Tension with Nueva Izquierda Nacional

Beyond the ERC independence movement, the March plenary will also debate the proposal of Nova Esquerra Nacional, the alternative candidacy to Junqueras led by Xavier Godàs and Alba Camps, to prevent the party president from also being a candidate for the elections. The text was approved in the Valencian Community assembly and, therefore, it can be debated on the weekend of March 15 and 16. In this case, the leadership is not willing to compromise the proposal, nor the one that was proposed by the party. limit the party president's term of office to 12 years regardless of whether repression has prevented him from exercising it every year: in the case of Junqueras, it would prevent him from standing for re-election. Both amendments will have to be voted on in the plenary session in which the forces of each party will be measured.

These two issues already caused tension in the debate between Junquerists and New National Left during the campaign. The distance has not disappeared and was evident on Thursday at the assembly of Central Catalonia, which Alba Camps ended up leaving amid criticism of the leadership: most of her amendments were rejected.

The amendments by Foc Nou have also not been approved, with only one being approved in Girona, which states in writing that Catalan is "the only" official language in an independent Catalonia, "just like Occitan in Aran". Both Fuego Nuevo and Nueva Izquierda Nacional hope to negotiate some amendments with the leadership before the congress.