Junts' strategy on immigration and Jordi Pujol's message

BarcelonaThe week has been marked by the agreement to delegate immigration powers to Catalonia signed by Junts and the PSOE. There has been an uproar in the right-wing PP and Vox benches over an alleged breakup of Spain and also in Podemos, considering that the agreement is "racist". The truth is that, if the law passes the approval in Congress, the only thing the Generalitat will do is apply the State regulations that exist now. If there is one phrase that is repeated in the article it is: "The execution of the State regulations is delegated to the autonomous community of Catalonia [...]". Therefore, without including room for manoeuvre for the Generalitat to apply criteria other than the current ones with regard to residence permits, issuing of NIE or expulsions for non-compliance with the immigration law.

Another thing is the strategy that Junts wants to have in Parliament if the law is approved in the Spanish chamber. The idea is to introduce a law to try to make the use of one's own language more mandatory than it is now for residence permits. Currently, there is an obligation to attend a basic course during the process to obtain the permit, in which the Generalitat makes a report on roots. The legal argument with which Junts wants to prove it is that the Statute grants the Generalitat powers in integration and reception.

Any attempt in this direction will most likely end up in the Constitutional Court. But Junts has a prior challenge, which is political. The independence movement does not have an absolute majority in the Parliament and any regulation in this direction must have the vote of the PSC. Sociovergence, in that sense, is its only option. Unless Junts only wants to carry out this initiative to wear down the government of Salvador Illa and, incidentally, its partner, Esquerra.

Nobody can escape the fact that Junts also wants to use the agreement with the PSOE to stop the flight of votes it has towards the extreme right of Aliança Catalana, as all the polls indicate, and respond to the pressure from its mayors to toughen up its discourse. The leadership believes that by taking up the banner of regulating immigration they will be able to alleviate Silvia Orriols, and they want to position themselves among what they call the left. woke and the far right. However, opinion polls indicate that taking up their agenda can backfire. In the latest survey by the Institute of Political and Social Sciences It was indicated that, in 2023, the voters of Junts in favour of limiting the entry of immigrants were 48.3%, like those of ERC and the PSC. Now, twenty points more. That the party leaders speak of the phenomenon as a problem has a legitimising effect for their voters.

Tribute to Pujol

This issue was raised this Saturday in Centelles at a meal in a private home attended by forty officials and former officials of Junts i Convergència around the former president Jordi Pujol. The meeting, which according to sources present has become a kind of tribute to the former president, has included interventions by mayors such as the mayor of Calella, Marc Buch; the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull; the former minister and deputy Jaume Giró or Pujol himself, accompanied by his son Oriol Pujol. Jordi Turull, secretary general of Junts, was not there. Although the Junts-PSOE immigration agreement was not explicitly mentioned in the interventions, Pujol did not miss the opportunity to send a message: that the Catalan Alliance should not be laughed at at any joke, he said. His speech of exclusion, he believes, is what will "make Catalonia disappear."

This Friday, President Salvador Illa made his first trip to Northern Catalonia to provide financial support to Bressola and strengthen economic ties. A bus took the press with a surprising slogan considering that they were crossing the border into France: it said dream, fight and conquer".

Beyond the content, it is clear who was most interested in talking about the immigration agreement. After holding a press conference with the top leaders, Junts called a off with journalists in Madrid and chose the constitutional hall of the Congress of Deputies, one of the largest in which committees are held. His communication strategy contrasted with that of the PSOE, which limited itself to issuing a statement and making no statements throughout the day.