Rufián demands more control at the borders despite claiming the arrival of Lamine Yamal's parents

Barcelona"Order is needed, legal entry routes must be recovered. A country must control its borders. Based on rights and obligations," stated Gabriel Rufián in an interview on Salvados, on La Sexta. A discourse with which the ERC spokesperson himself in Congress has admitted that the left could accuse him of "buying the right's framework" in the migration debate. "It is completely bought, I only aspire to compete," he answered himself. Rufián's words highlight the debate the left is having when it comes to forging a discourse on immigration, and also that the republican spokesperson, just like his party, ERC, have made a turn to try to stop the far-right's discourse.

In 2024, for example, Rufián criticized the PP for defending the use of the army to control the borders. "If what the PP and Vox defend were applied, the two best players on the Spanish national team would not be playing for the Spanish national team," he said in the corridors of Congress. Rufián was referring to Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams and, specifically, to their parents, who arrived irregularly in the Spanish state. In this Sunday's interview, Rufián once again attacked the policies proposed by the right and once again argued that they would mean that neither Yamal nor Williams would be playing soccer now. A discourse that is hard to reconcile, however, with the "border control" that he also defends. Rufián's discursive shift is also reinforced by what ERC has pointed out in recent months: that the Catalonia of 10 million is not viable as long as public services are not resized.

In the interview, Rufián also spoke about repeat offenses: "It is a problem," he said. And, in this sense, he pointed to "precarious immigrants" and presented them as the "Vaquillas of today." "Is it racist to say that? It is the truth." The republican spokesperson adopted the statement "he who does it pays for it" and assured that "order is a left-wing concept," a thesis that has also been publicly supported by the ERC leadership.

The call with Zapatero

Rufián has admitted to feeling disappointed by the judicial case affecting former Spanish minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. In this Sunday's interview, the republican spokesperson explained that Zapatero himself sent him a message after the speech Rufián gave in Congress regarding the case.

"It was very difficult for me to give the speech, my body was telling me to stay silent. I read the court order 14 times. After the speech, I sat down and received a message from Zapatero," he revealed. Subsequently, both held a telephone conversation, the content of which Rufián did not want to disclose. "Perhaps he wins the legal battle [with the jewelry case], but not the moral one," he stated.

"The mistake" of Junqueras

Rufián has also spoken about a potential joint candidacy of the left and has once again limited his aspirations to Catalonia. "I don't see myself beyond Catalonia," he stated. However, he also reiterated that it would be a mistake for Sumar and Podemos not to reach an agreement to run together in the next general elections, but he did not want to take a position on who should lead the candidacy. "No one is surplus to requirements for me, otherwise we will have to return to Soto del Real to see the people," he quipped.

However, he did state that he believes it was a "mistake" that the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, rejected the idea of ERC being part of a candidacy that also included the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau. "I didn't go to prison for Catalonia so that Ada Colau could be a deputy on an Esquerra list," Junqueras said a few months ago. The ERC leadership rejects the broad left-wing front that Rufián defends.