Rufián: "I would have liked to go to the Pimec debate and my party told me no"

BarcelonaGabriel Rufián shakes off the responsibility for his controversial absence this Monday from the Pimec November 29th candidates' debate and points to his own party. In an interview this morning on Ser Catalunya, the Republican head of the list stated that he did not participate in the employers' association event because the Republican campaign committee ordered him to. "I would have liked to go, but my party told me not to go," he said.

After Pimec, which left Rufián's chair empty during the debate, claimed that Esquerra had canceled his presence at the last minute because he was "exhausted," the head of the list had already denied that this was the case and alleged "scheduling reasons." Twenty-four hours later, however, he limited himself to saying that they ordered him not to go "because there are many debates," despite the fact that last week the party had confirmed to the media that he would attend.

In the interview, Rufián explained that he found out about the commotion over his absence from the debate while running through Barcelona, when he received several messages reacting to Pimec's version, asking him if he was okay and wishing him a recovery from the alleged exhaustion. "I am very well, perfectly," he said, and he repeated up to two times that he does not know "where it comes from" and that "someone is lying".

After expressing his "utmost respect" for Pimec and its president, Antoni Cañete, Rufián ended up saying that it seems to him "a huge mess on our part that no one went". "And Pimec could have had a little more flexibility", he added, in reference to the fact that they did not accept an alternative candidate to him. The Republicans explain that they offered the employers' association that he be replaced by Jordi Albert and that the employers' association rejected it, even though they did accept the participation of Ernest Urtasun despite him being the number two of the Broad Front for Barcelona (the number one is Ada Colau).

Sources familiar with how the debate works, however, explained to ARA in the last few hours that Pimec made it clear from the first moment that they would not accept changes to the people who had been confirmed and that, despite asking for the presence of the heads of lists, Urtasun was always the reference person for the Broad Front. Rufián ended up asking for "apologies to everyone" and ironized that, even though he has the reputation of being a "free agent", he is now paying the consequences of being "very disciplined" with his party. "Look what happens to me", he said, with a smile.