Pujol reappears in the National Pact for Language despite opposition from Junts
The agreement was born with political division: it brings together the Government, ERC and Comuns, but not the councillors and cuperos, who see it as insufficient.
BarcelonaHe National Pact for Language It was born with greater social than political consensus. The Catalan government has managed to bring its two investiture partners, ERC and Comuns, into the agreement, but has not gone further in the parliamentary arc and brought together the opposition, as it initially intended. Aside from the predictable rejection by the PP and Vox, neither Junts nor the CUP have joined the pact, believing it to be incomplete. However, if there is a significant image from the presentation of the pact this Tuesday at the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, it is the reappearance of former president of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol. A significant presence: the former president wanted to be at the event, the only previous president of the Generalitat to attend, despite the opposition of Junts and Carles Puigdemont to the agreement. which he criticized yesterday from Waterloo Because it does not address, on the one hand, what to do in the event of a setback by the Constitutional Court regarding the language and Catalan in Europe.
The Socialist executive had invited all former presidents and also former culture ministers. Former minister Natàlia Garriga was from the previous ERC executive, but not former president Pere Aragonès—he did not participate for personal reasons—although the pact was forged during his term. Isla, in fact, praised the work of the Republican executive. "I would like to thank President Aragonès for the impetus given by President Aragonès, which we have continued," stated the Socialist president. In his speech, Illa also reopened the door to Junts and the CUP (Cup) to join: "The pact belongs to everyone and its doors are open to all who want to join. Joining in favor of Catalan."
However, the regional government members are keeping the door closed to the agreement for now. The party's spokesperson, Mònica Sales, has once again criticized the failure to include the "two red lines" set by Junts: waiting for the Constitutional Court (CC) to publish its ruling on the 25% requirement for Spanish in schools and also the official status of Catalan in Europe. In this regard, Sales accused the Catalan government of a "lack of commitment" to the language and criticized the pact as the result of a "tripartite coalition." CUP MP Laia Estrada has echoed the criticism, considering that the agreement "was born without ambition" and is "a propaganda tool at the service of the PSC." However, the Junts members are open to "renegotiating" the pact once the CC ruling is issued, and the CUP members assure that they will assess the measures once they reach Parliament. The People's Party (PP), on the other hand, has firmly shut the door on the pact, and in fact, its spokesperson in Parliament, Juan Fernández, has accused the government of extending a "linguistic dictatorship" with this pact.
The possible setback from the Constitutional Court on the 25%
Aside from the Catalan government, the event was also attended by the president of the PSC-Units parliamentary group in the Catalan Parliament, Ferran Pedret; the president of Esquerra (Republican Left), Josep Maria Jové; and the leader of the Comuns (Commons) in the Catalan parliament, Jéssica Albiach, the three groups that support the Pact. Pedret declined to comment on the fact that neither Junts nor the CUP (Cup) had joined: "We didn't want this pact to become a weapon of confrontation." In any case, he expressed confidence that both parties could join later.
For his part, Albiach asserted that the agreement allows for a response to a possible setback from the Constitutional Court. "They're going to hit us harder with this pact," he asserted. "It provides better guarantees for addressing rulings like the 25% ruling and the problems we may encounter along the way," added Jordi Albert, ERC's deputy spokesperson in the Parliament: "The best response to the ruling is what we are doing today." However, Albiach added that the reason for this agreement is not a response to the high court's ruling, but rather to the "decline in the social use" of Catalan. Albert, in turn, called for a shift away from "partisanship" to the language.