Rufián ignites Junts-ERC relationship

Madrid / BarcelonaGabriel Rufián directly addresses the Junts deputies and shows them a 50 euro bill: "This is your flag, the one you share with PP and Vox". And, afterwards, he lists one by one the parliamentarians who vote against the rent extension and goes up to the seats where Míriam Nogueras and the rest of the group sit to hand them a series of tweets against the political position of Carles Puigdemont's party. "I've removed the insults," he warns. In this way, the spokesperson for Esquerra in Congress defended the yes to the rent extension decree and attacked the Junts members for their opposing position on Tuesday in the Spanish chamber. A staging that has heated up the relationship between the Republicans and Carles Puigdemont's party but which, according to several sources consulted by the ARA, has also not pleased several ERC leaders in Barcelona and Madrid who are wary of Rufián's methods: they criticize Junts' position on housing —they speak of "abominable"—, but they do not like the spokesperson's way of acting in Congress. In fact, not all Esquerra deputies applauded on Tuesday after his speech: Pilar Vallugera. Officially, the Republican leadership avoids making any comment.

Tuesday's vote has cast a shadow over Thursday's session in Congress. It was Deputy Pilar Calvo (JxCat), within the framework of the intervention on the right to abortion, who wanted to refer specifically to the events. "Some have turned this podium into an execution squad. On Tuesday they gave us a 'Go get them' in true Vox style. They pointed us out in Spanish because I suppose Catalans were not their target audience," she said, referring to Rufián's intervention. To add: "Disagreement with the policies they want to impose on us should not question our moral integrity or lead to accusations that can have consequences," she said, while recalling that this Wednesday Junts deputy Marta Madrenas, who spoke out against the extension of rents, was "pursued by a man in the street who ended up spitting on her".

indicated that it swept among left-wing voters.

Puigdemont's letterRufián's figure is not an easy figure within Esquerra since he began the tour to create a left-wing front on a state level in the next elections. The party does not endorse this movement, but he does not give up on pressuring in this regard because he believes that the most important thing now is to stop PP and Vox. This generates supporters and detractors for him, a division that is repeated in every controversial episode he stars in. In other words, his latest staging in Congress only reinforces the opinion that both sides already had. What is clear is that his style favors him in the polls: the CIS places him as one of the most valued leaders on a state level, while a recent poll by El País and Cadena Ser indicated that it swept among left-wing voters.

Puigdemont's letter

Beyond the debate in the plenary session, social media has also continued to boil. Former president Carles Puigdemont has published an article about Tuesday's parliamentary debate, where he believes that "all red lines were crossed." "By doing so, the memory of a historic party where some of the best men that Catalan politics has produced in the last century have been members was tarnished," he stated. In his opinion, Rufián's methods are "typical of the worst of Spanish politics": "We can have disagreements, however deep they may be, but until now Catalans knew how to express them with our own distinct way of doing and saying things, which marked an identifiable style."

The former president accuses Rufián of inheriting Ciudadanos' ways of doing things and criticizes ERC's use of "pseudo-media" on social networks, Nogueras has the following property: 33.3% of three garages and 16.6% of an apartment from an inheritance, in addition to an Opel Mocca.

For nothing", they often recall that they used to say and that it caused them problems on social networks within the pro-independence movement.

The other controversy that has erupted and which Nogueras has assured she has reported to the Mossos as a "disinformation campaign" is a tweet that stated the Junts leader in Madrid owned apartments and earned 4,200 euros. According to the Congress's asset declaration, Nogueras has the following property: 33.3% of three garages and 16.6% of an apartment from an inheritance, in addition to an Opel Mocca.

Voters' opinion

Junts in Madrid has maintained a belligerent stance against the rent price intervention policies of the PSOE, Sumar, ERC, and Podemos. They have positioned themselves in defense of "small property owners" and advocate for measures such as tax deductions on mortgages and rent. This stance aligns with the composition of their electorate: according to a CEO survey from July 2025, only 12.9% of those who express sympathy for Junts declare they live in rented accommodation. 42.2% say they already own their home outright, and 22.2% are paying it off through a mortgage, while 19.2% say they live in a property owned by family members. In this regard, it is the party with the fewest tenants, in contrast to Vox, which is the party whose sympathizers live the most in rented accommodation (30.2%) and declare they do not live in owned property (only 10.6% say they own their home outright and 21.7% are paying it off through a mortgage). Paradoxically, both maintained the same position on the rent extension: they voted against it along with the PP.