Junts' decisions to combat Catalan Alliance on the immigration flank

BarcelonaThe emergence of Aliança Catalana (AC) in Parliament and the growth predicted by demography have led Junts to move to try to stem the vote leakage that polls foresee towards Sílvia Orriols' party. And it has done so mainly on immigration matters. Although Carles Puigdemont's formation has not yet presented its immigration plan —it has been delayed without any public explanation, but it coincides with the fact that a part of the party considers that the focus should not be placed on Aliança's framework—, it has made moves both in Parliament and in Congress, as well as in municipalities. What steps has it taken?

We don't have to go back very far to find a first example. It was recently with the Spanish government's clean law, which allows for the nationalization – and therefore, the vote – of the descendants of Franco's exiles. The Junts supporters have expressed their reservations and have registered a battery of questions questioning the "demographic impact" in Catalonia. But it is not the only initiative they have opposed. The party also criticized the regularization of immigrants – in Catalonia it affects about 200,000 people – and denounced it, arguing that the knowledge of Catalan was "marginalized" in the procedure.

The most striking was in May of last year, when Aliança brought a motion to Parliament against the Islamic veil in public spaces and Junts positioned itself in favor of prohibiting the Islamic veil in schools, and the burqa and niqab in public spaces, in addition to the burkini in swimming pools. It did so after activating various meetings with mayors led by spokesperson Salvador Vergés. Although it did not validate AC's proposal, this shook the party, among other things, because it was following in the wake of the far-right in a debate like this.

It was the same month of May last year when the party made another move: it proposed excluding squatters from the registry, after in April mayors of the formation had pressured to toughen up the registration process. The Junts members also advocated for a "social registry" for vulnerable people that would depend on the Generalitat and specified that "enabling title or verification of residence" was necessary, which excluded people who reported living in municipal facilities from the registry. The general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, stated that it was not logical to register "a person who says they live on the river" because it was "cheating." The issue of the registry was addressed with proposals in various town halls: in Figueres, it was with the removal of 872 people from the registry upon detecting fraud; and in cities like Martorell or Sant Cugat, it was with the toughening of the registry – even though town halls of all stripes, from the PP to the CUP, hinder access to the registry, according to a study by social organizations.

In parallel, last year the Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council, from Junts, introduced a novelty in protected housing: that long-time residents would be prioritized over newcomers, thanks to a minimum of ten years of registration in the city. This formula has been copied by Vox in the concretization of the "national priority" in protected housing in recent regional agreements.

However, before Aliança entered the Parliament, even though Sílvia Orriols was already mayor of Ripoll, Junts had already made some move on immigration. Specifically, in January 2024, it agreed with the PSOE on "the delegation of immigration powers to the Generalitat" in exchange for giving the green light to an anti-crisis decree and an omnibus decree. The Junts members requested that the Generalitat set the conditions for expelling immigrants with repeated offenses. This delegation, however, was ultimately overturned by Podem along with the PP and Vox in September last year. This legislature, the Congress also approved the Junts law against repeat offenses with the votes of the PSOE and the PP, although Junts has not linked it to the migratory issue.

Catalonia of the 10 million

All these movements have gone in parallel with a narrative against the "Catalonia of 10 million." Junts has presented a frontal battle arguing that it is not viable and that public services are not prepared. In fact, the party has focused its efforts on linguistically and culturally "integrating" this new immigration. In this regard, the party wants Catalan to be "a requirement" to obtain a work permit, as expressed last year by various spokespeople, led by the leader in Madrid, Miriam Nogueras. A logic of "rights and duties" that has been rhetorically followed with the defense that they do not want "neither the Catalonia of 10 million, nor the Catalonia of hate" which they attribute to Aliança Catalana.