One year after the war that sparked the ERC: have the protagonists reconciled?

BarcelonaThe conflict that had been brewing for months, secretly, exploded just hours after the defeat in the 12-M elections. Pere Aragonès accepted the defeat and announced that he was stepping back, while the then and now president of the party, Oriol Junqueras, took the opposite step: a step forward to continue leading the Republican party. The tandem that had led the Ministry of Economy during the 1-O election broke up, as did the duo that had led ERC for the last eleven years: Marta Rovira also announced her retirement. The Republicans plunged into one of the toughest wars the party has ever experienced, which dragged on and worsened after ARA published the scandal of the posters against the MaragallsWhere are the three visible faces of the party at that time now? What relationship do they have after the war? Has the party recovered after the battle?

Oriol Junqueras revalidated his leadership in the primaries at the end of last year and prevailed over critics, including Marta Rovira and Pere Aragonès. However, he didn't do so in the first round; it took two rounds of voting to revalidate the position with 52% of the supportJunqueras is now leading the party with a new team, and his relationship with his former deputy, Rovira, is non-existent. They have met twice in the last year: last July in Cantallops, when Marta Rovira returned from exile, and at the national council in January, the first to convene the new Republican leadership after the primaries. Currently, in fact, Rovira lives in Switzerland.

After making the transition to the new secretary general, Elisenda Alamany, Rovira has distanced herself from the party's organizational life. Initially, she herself had expressed a willingness to play a role within Esquerra to contribute the knowledge acquired internationally during her time in exile in Switzerland. This knowledge she makes available to the party, but without going any further. In November of last year, she concluded her term as secretary general and put an end to her political career, a decision she considers irreversible. "I made it clear that I was leaving politics," Rovira herself emphasized when consulted by ARA. In fact, the Junquero leadership has not made her any specific offer either, sources within the Republican executive confirmed.

The relationship between Junqueras and Aragonès is also not what it used to be. The two met a few weeks ago, and the party published images of the meeting on social media. The former president of the Generalitat himself said in an interview with SER Catalunya that he advises the party when asked. However, dialogue with Junqueras is not daily or constant, according to several sources consulted. Aragonés did not like the truth commission's report. about the case of the Maragall cartels and the way in which the conclusions were made public at the March congress.

In fact, this scandal uncovered by the ARA strained and continues to strain the party, especially the relationship between Junqueras supporters and Roviras supporters. The report prepared by the commission led by Joan Tardà angered Junqueras's critics, who considered him a "mockery." Beyond this commission, the party's internal bodies are still waiting to issue a verdict on the internal investigation he is now leading. The new compliance officer, former mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallés Mireia InglaThe first proposal for sanctions made by the Guarantees Committee—and which must now be reviewed based on Ingla's report—pointed to four people responsible: the Anoia activist who commissioned the posters, former ERC communications chief Tolo Moya, former deputy minister of communications Sergi Sabrià, and the former deputy secretary of communications.

Those around Rovira and Aragonès are completely removed from the party's life. For example, Sergi Sabrià, the former deputy secretary of communications for the Catalan government, has torn up his party membership, and Junqueras has not retained any of the figures who stood by Rovira during the war. He actually dismissed Marta Vilalta, the Republicans' spokesperson in the Parliament, in one of his first moves after being reappointed. He also fired Xavier Mombiela, the person in charge of the internal investigation into the poster case. Only Josep Maria Jové and Teresa Jordà have retained their respective positions as president and deputy spokesperson, respectively, in the Parliament and Congress.

Territorial renewal and governability

With new visible faces in the party, Esquerra is barely finishing its congresses before also revamping its regional structures. The Republican leadership is satisfied with how the entire process has gone. They managed to win by the smallest of margins Junqueras. There are still some congresses left, such as the one for Central Catalonia, where the New National Left project (the critics) had more members and where, according to sources consulted, they will finally take the step and present an alternative candidacy to the one endorsed by the leadership.

In any case, Junqueras will end this process with more peace than expected. After months of internal warfare, the party now looks to the upcoming municipal elections, which will be key to seeing if the party regains electoral strength. In the meantime, the organization is also playing its part when it comes to enforcing the agreements signed with the Socialists in both Catalonia and Madrid. The party still holds the key to governability in Catalonia, which it will use in the coming months: before the summer, there should be specific agreements on the new financing system and also to move forward with the transfer of the Cercanías (local trains).