Rufián ignites the 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 give 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 juntaires for their opposing position on Tuesday in the Spanish chamber. A staging that has inflamed 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 attack Junts' position on housing —they speak of "abominable"—, but they do not like the way the spokesperson in Congress operates. In fact, not all Esquerra deputies applauded after his speech on Tuesday. Officially, the republican leadership avoids making any comments.

Tuesday's vote has loomed over this 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 expressly to the facts. "Some have turned this podium into an execution squad. On Tuesday they gave us a 'Go get them' in the purest 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 us being singled out in ways that can have consequences," she said, while recalling that this Wednesday, Junts deputy Marta Madrenas, who spoke out against the rent extension, was "pursued by a man in the street who ended up spitting on her."

Calvo's words have not changed Rufián's position one millimeter. This very Thursday he retweeted a message on X that once again listed one by one the Junts deputies who have opposed the extension of rents and, upon leaving the hemicycle, he made the following statements to the media: "The tension is held by those who cannot pay rent. Three million people who are screwed by what Junts has voted for are very tense. But it is very bad to shout at people on the street, I say this from personal experience. I am not afraid of them, nor of their digital followers, journalists, and commentators," he said. "I am on my fifth Junts campaign," he finished. Members of parliament from ERC in Madrid also close ranks with him in this regard and attack Junts "to play the victim." Joan Tardà defended him on X: "Chapeau Gabriel Rufián".

The figure of Rufián is not an easy figure within Esquerra since he has started the tour to create a left-wing front on a state level in the upcoming elections. The party does not endorse this movement, but he does not give up on pressing 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.

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 demeanor is "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 in our own distinct way of acting and speaking, which marked an identifiable style."

The former president accuses Rufián of inheriting Ciudadanos' methods and criticizes Esquerra's use of B campaigns on social media. "We do not pay mariachis against our adversaries, nor digital pseudomedia through public money, nor production companies to generate related audiovisual content, nor communication groups from provincial councils agreed with the PSC. We pay the consequences, but we will not change our ways. No matter how much they blackmail us, wage dirty wars, and make accusations," he states.