Lluís Puig removes the penultimate yellow ribbon from the Parliament

BarcelonaFrom the Parliament, "the Minister of Culture was expelled from it illegitimately and with the approval of some parties present here" for the simple fact of "setting up the ballot boxes". This is how clearly Lluís Puig expressed himself, from the lectern of the hemicycle, upon his return to the seat of sovereignty of the Principality after nine years of exile, surrounded by the top leadership of the independence movement. A gesture such as removing the yellow ribbon from his seat and raising it as a sign of victory was the penultimate chapter in closing the stage of repression in Catalan politics. Only one ribbon remains on a seat, in a prominent position. It belongs to former President Carles Puigdemont, who is expected to return from exile after the Spanish elections, once the arrest warrants have been lifted and all that remains is for the amnesty to be definitively applied to him, just as it is for Puig and Toni Comín, who also returned to the State this Thursday —on Sunday he will do so in Catalonia— to collect his credentials as a Member of the European Parliament.

The day after the reception given to him by his hometown, Terrassa, came the honorary reception of the Parliament this Thursday afternoon, led by the president of the chamber, Josep Rull, who highlighted the only space of power remaining for the independence movement, with a fiery national speech. Hugs and tears of joy were the protagonists of the entry into the hemicycle, where a large group of deputies was waiting for him, but where neither the President of the Government, Salvador Illa, nor his ministers were present, with the exception of the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó. Executive sources explained to ARA that, like any other plenary session, the members of the Government have been arriving to be present for the votes.

The "eternal Catalonia" that the former minister commented on, citing another head of Culture in the era of the Republic such as Ventura Gassol, returned in a very special plenary session in which he declared himself "convincingly pro-independence". However, aware that "exile has not been free", the President of the Parliament commented on personal episodes that Puig did not bring up in the chamber: "From exile he saw his father and mother die and could not say goodbye to them in person. He saw his granddaughter born from exile", he stressed, to add that the "patriot" Puig will be able to "look into the eyes" of his granddaughter to "be able to tell her that this has been worth it".

"The country is not the same as it was nine years ago," acknowledged the former minister, who recalled the accumulated problems in the management of climate change, in the demands of teachers and doctors, among farmers, or in matters such as housing and language. "I will tell President Illa that in person," he pointed out. His absence from the plenary session has caused a stir, as has the fact that no socialist attended the honorary reception beyond members of the bureau such as David Pérez. However, Government sources emphasize that Illa already held "a discreet and private meeting with deputy Lluís Puig" when he returned and that he "celebrates that today he can exercise his political and parliamentary rights with full normality."

Be that as it may, the president of the Junts group, Mònica Sales, has sent a letter to the head of the executive to tell him that he "has not been up to the task" and that "there was no justification" for his "snub," "coinciding with Vox." She even told him that he has not been "the president of all Catalans" and that "a meeting in the strictly private sphere does not replace the gesture that the president had to perform today."

Avalanche of personalities

The former President of the Generalitat Artur Mas; former President of the Parliament Laura Borràs; the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras; multiple former ministers who were repressed, such as Carles Mundó and Meritxell Borràs; the president of Òmnium, Xavier Antich; the activist and musician Valtònyc; as well as the parliamentary groups of Junts, ERC, and the CUP, have shared hugs with Puig. The deputies of Aliança Catalana and the Comuns also participated in the massive applause while going up the noble staircase.

Not everyone agreed on giving Puig a reception of honor. PP deputy Cristian Escribano lashed out from the plenary session against "the shameful spectacle to which separatism has subjected Parliament" and the "shameful partiality" of Rull. Vox deputy Manuel Acosta drove the point home by saying that "there are returns that honor all Catalans, but there are others that are shameful and only demonstrate how arbitrary and bad a law can be when it suits the corrupt PSOE government." The PSC, on the other hand, chose to celebrate Puig's return discreetly: deputy Lídia Ferré was concise: "We are very glad that the amnesty law has been made effective as President Salvador Illa has defended so many times. Welcome back.".

The praise from the rest of the groups has multiplied and even the Aliança Catalana deputy Sílvia Orriols has rebutted the PP and Vox: "We join in the expressions of joy for Mr. Puig's return. I feel the need and the duty to reproach the lamentable interventions that have preceded me until now," she said. Orriols even received the timid and unusual applause of the parliamentary spokesperson for Junts, Salvador Vergés, after a not very common intervention showing empathy towards a political rival.