ERC has acknowledged the existence of structure B since 2019 and has identified those responsible.

MartorellThe Alzheimer's cartel scandal and the ERC B structure uncovered by the ARA The scandal that has shaken the party in recent months has done so again this Saturday at the Republicans' congress in Martorell. The Truth Commission, the body that urged Oriol Junqueras to investigate this issue in parallel with the work of the Compliance Officer and the Guarantees Committee, has presented its conclusions to the membership—without handing them the report, which it sent directly to the Guarantees Committee. The investigation, led by Joan Tardà, acknowledges that the party had a B structure in place from 2019 to 2023 that was responsible for producing the posters against the Maragall brothers, among others, and points to two people responsible: two of the party's deputy secretaries of communication during this period, Sergi Sabrià.

The report is not binding; it is the Guarantees Committee and the Compliance Officer who are considering the party's official investigation and who have the power to sanction those responsible. However, the committee led by Tardà—which the leadership compared to a legislative chamber's investigative committee—has summoned several party members and non-members over the past two months. According to the deputy secretary general of communications, Isaac Albert, 18 people have appeared and 12 have not. Among those who chose not to appear is former minister Ernest Maragall. as explained by ARA, and the party's former general secretary, Marta Rovira, sent a written statement, according to sources consulted.

According to Albert, Tardà has also explained to the membership the money that was allocated to Relevance, the company with which ERC worked to carry out the counter-campaignsFrom 2016 to 2023, the party paid him €4 million, although this includes services beyond the contrast campaigns. However, according to several sources consulted, he would have at least 200,000 euros were allocated to structure B, some 15,000 of which were used to silence the people who put up the posters against the Maragalls.

Tardà's presentation to the membership has angered several members, who consider it to have been a waste of time. This was expressed by the same people who challenged this committee before the Committee of Guarantees, Isaac Peraire and Marta Vilaret, in X. Peraire, in fact, announced that he will take these conclusions to the Committee of Guarantees also because he considers it to be "A political act, a spectacle and a lamentable mockery, imprecise, waste of time, biased. Incendiary."

The leader of the Foc Nou candidacy, Helena Solà, also criticized the report, calling it "a mockery" in a tweet. Tardà apologized to the party's members for these events, but also, without mentioning him, to the party's former communications director, Tolo Moya, whom she considered to have been singled out as "responsible and the executor," but who, according to Tardà, had "a certain degree of participation in the B structure."

Endorsement of the political report

The conclusions of the truth commission were the last point debated by the membership this Saturday, but the congress—for which 1,500 people had registered, but only about 700 participated, including former president Pere Aragonès but not Marta Rovira—began with the debate on the political report. The document laid out the party's ideological foundations for the next four years, during which they want nation and language to be two of its central pillars. Of the 867 amendments presented, the leadership negotiated more than 400, one of them from the Ágora movement, promoted by Joan Tardà.

The text advocates "moving toward a solution to the national conflict with Spain based on democratic principles" and advocates for a relationship with "Catalan socialism that combines confrontation and collaboration." The Republicans have signed alliances with the Socialists both in the Spanish government and in the Catalan government, but these pacts have always led to contradictions. Just this Saturday, Esquerra (Republican Left) issued a warning to the Socialists regarding the negotiations between the Spanish government and the unions over the company that should manage the Cercanías (local rail) network. "The company that should manage the Cercanías (local rail) network is a company that obeys Catalan authorities," said Esquerra's deputy secretary of communications, Isaac Albert, in response to the Ministry of Transport's offer to the unions to make the company dependent on Renfe.

Aside from the relationship with the Socialists, the ERC's report also urges "left-wing pro-independence and sovereignty forces to foster synergies and alliances" to "build a broad path that will improve the conditions for making the right to decide effective." Tardà has managed to negotiate this text with the leadership, but is keeping an amendment to the strategic report alive, which is due to be debated this Sunday and which is along the lines of including non-independence supporters in the party. Initially, it wanted to reform the statutes in this regard, but ultimately backed down.

In this Saturday's debate, the leadership also incorporated an amendment that proposes "moving" away from the 32-hour workday, in addition to creating regulations that allow for the inclusion of migrants in "relevant" positions on the lists, in an agreement with Ágora.

Clearing the way for internal currents

Aside from the political roadmap, ERC has also approved organizational changes—the statutory proposal was approved by 89% of the membership—such as establishing internal currents within ERC, a proposal agreed upon with Nova Esquerra Nacional, Foc Nou, and Àgora. This proposal will require a 3% request from the membership, and the party must draft regulations within the next six months to govern its operation. The main clash anticipated with the candidacy of Xavier Godàs and Alba Camps was over limiting Junqueras's term and making him incompatible with public office, but critics withdrew the proposal with the commitment that the leadership would open this debate during that term.