Rufián asks ERC to lead the left-wing front in Catalonia: "And if the position suits me, I'll go home"

BarcelonaWhat should be the unitary left-wing front proposed by Gabriel Rufián? Aware that his party, ERC, does not subscribe to the proposal, the republican spokesperson made an explicit request to him this Thursday: "I ask my party to lead this. And if it costs me my position, I'll go home." Rufián wants Oriol Junqueras' party to adopt the proposal and unite, under its banner, this confluence in Catalonia. And in the State? The republican spokesperson in Madrid has argued that Podemos should play this role: "Podemos can help these confluences." The second stop on his tour of the State has taken him to Barcelona, to the auditorium of the Campus de la Ciutadella at Pompeu Fabra University, alongside Irene Montero, Podemos's number two, who has taken up the proposal's gauntlet.

The details on how everything would be concreted have not been given, and they have left the door open: "There are a thousand ways to do these things we are proposing." At the event Rufián held in Madrid a few weeks ago – alongside the spokesperson for Més Madrid, Emilio Delgado –, the republican spokesperson argued that in each province the left-wing formation with the most traction should be presented. He considers this to be the way to curb the rise of the right and far-right that polls predict. "If they enter, they enter for decades. We have to invent something electoral to try to stop it [...]. We have to confluently go into elections," insisted Rufián, who has cited the electoral coalition built in Andalusia as an example, where Endavant Andalusia will also run separately.

Rufián's idea is that this broad and unitary front should be through an electoral alliance between the state-level left-wing forces and also the sovereignist ones. "The problem isn't us sovereignist left-wingers, we'll be fine. The problem is the left-wingers to the left of the PSOE. I refuse to abandon them. We can't tell them 'You'll manage on your own,'" he stated. "I refuse to let the political movement grow at the expense of people's suffering," he added. In fact, Rufián has defended himself against criticism he has received, both from within the party and from outside, for defending a unitary project on a state level. "It's a fragile partisanship to think that dragging Esquerra Unida, Podemos, Sumar, or any political formation with a Spanish project from a sovereignist perspective does harm." And in this regard, he has opened the door to holding, in the future, an event with the former deputy of Compromís and now candidate for the mayoralty of Valencia, Mónica Oltra.

Montero, in this regard, has once again advocated for "teaming up" with Rufián to materialize this left-wing alliance. In fact, the purple leader has assured that this convergence has already existed in the past and has cited the "feminist laws" they worked on jointly with parties like ERC and Bildu as an example. "It may get a lot of votes, but if not, it's still worth it," she added. The Podemos leader is betting on the Rufián approach, although, for now, she has rejected negotiating a coalition with Sumar, Esquerra Unida, Comuns, and Más Madrid. A coalition, incidentally, that has also been sealed in Andalusia with the purple party. Montero has defended a convergence with Rufián to put "the project of a better society at the center," one that prioritizes issues like housing or also ensures "decent wages." Rufián has reiterated, in this regard, not shying away from debates such as "order" or the migratory one, a thesis he already defended at the event in Madrid, in addition to giving weight to "digital power" – he has stated that he prefers "filling TikTok to filling libraries."

ERC's opposition

Rufián's proposal does not have the backing of the ERC leadership and, in fact, the party leader, Oriol Junqueras, was not present at Thursday's event, although the Republicans sent a small delegation: Deputy Secretary General Oriol López; Deputy Secretary for the world of work, economy, citizenship and open party, Laura Pelay, and also Senator Laura Castel. Also present was his mentor and the main proponent of the proposal, Joan Tardà. On behalf of Comuns, the candidate for mayor of Barcelona, Gerardo Pisarello, and the former spokesperson and now councilor in Sabadell, Joan Mena. On behalf of Podem, the Secretary General in the State, Ione Belarra, and the General Coordinator in Catalonia, María Pozuelo, among other party officials. In fact, the purple party is the one that sent the largest delegation (and, basically, the one that organized the event).

In ERC, Rufián's attitude is perceived as a "power play" against the party. Junqueras' leadership deems his proposal unviable and criticizes their spokesperson in Madrid for continuing, despite everything. However, despite ERC's "no," Rufián does not give up and this afternoon asked to "give space" to the party leaderships "so they can talk": "I understand the complication of all this, but I make a call for historical responsibility," he requested. To try to convince the Republican leadership, Rufián used this argument: "For the first time, we can have a space to the left of the PSOE led by sovereignist left-wing parties in which the right to self-determination of Catalonia and Euskadi is not called into question. I was told that this was what we had to do." In fact, Rufián has described it as a "magical tale" to say that there are between "60% and 70%" of independentists in Catalonia: "Unfortunately, that is not the case, and saying so does not make me less of an indepe, it makes me more realistic."

Rufián has had to defend himself on several occasions from criticism from parts of the independence movement, especially from Junts, for considering that it puts the sovereignist project in the background. The proof was this afternoon when, at Pompeu Fabra, Gabriel Rufián was received with some posters hung by the JNC (Joventuts Nacionalistes de Catalunya) which reminded him of the tweet he made in 2017: "155 silver coins". Additionally, there were also posters accusing Rufián of not defending Catalan: "Rufián, he who does not defend Catalan does not defend Catalonia". At this afternoon's event, Rufián has basically opted to speak in Catalan —Montero understands him perfectly— just like the moderator, former Comuns leader Xavier Domènech, who compared Montero to "La Pasionaria" and Rufián to "Robespierre".