Salvador Illa blesses the donation of Pujol's Convergence

BarcelonaJordi Pujol reappeared this Monday to put a face to the donation that the party he founded, Convergència, has made to the National Archive of Catalonia. The formation has donated its documentary collection in an act presided over by the head of the Catalan executive, Salvador Illa. In fact, the socialist president has once again heaped praise on Pujol: he has acknowledged his "work and political passion in the service of the country." Praise that he also extended to Convergència: "Catalonia owes a lot to Convergència and Catalonia, without Convergència, it would not have been the country it is today." The president has described the 150 linear meters of documents, posters, and merchandise of the party as a "collective treasure."

It is not the first time that the president of the Generalitat has praised Jordi Pujol's legacy. In fact, he has met with him several times since he has been president. This Monday, however, he has gone a little further and has valued CDC's heritage: "It has been a party that has worked for the coexistence of Catalonia." Illa, in this regard, has added that "a country that does not know how to recognize the contributions made by diverse political formations and by the leaders who have governed it for years, is a small country."

Pujol: "I was not an independentist"

Salvador Illa was listened to, seated on the stage, by former presidents Jordi Pujol and Artur Mas, and former CDC leader David Bonvehí. In the front rows there were also several former party leaders such as the President of the Parliament, Josep Rull, or Marta Pascal. When Pujol took the floor, it was to claim the legacy of Convergència and make a reminder: "I was not a pro-independence supporter." However, the former president also resorted to the words he wrote in 2011: "They told us 'You are going to be residual'". "We must not be and we will not be," he claimed. For this reason, he said, the country needs a "collective history and will and a national archive" that helps everyone remember "what we have done well and poorly, if you want, the mistakes." "History can help us with many things, but also to be realistic, not to be dreamers," he added. The former president considers that it is the "will to be," the "demonstration of resistance" not to become "residual."

"It is the party that expressed institutional, transversal, inclusive, modernizing, pro-European Catalanism. With the will to build Catalonia and think of it in fullness. With the idea of a Catalonia of a single people," Rull claimed, in turn. Previously, former president Artur Mas had also valued Convergència's work: "It was a story of success and service to all of Catalonia." Mas assured that his party's way of being moved away "from sectarianism, populism, demagoguery, and political hypocrisy" and, therefore, he said, "from "posturing". For all these reasons, he assured that the party was "the object of desire" and also "the target of destruction." And, in a warning for the current political reality, he stated: "When a state of law is placed at the service of the abuse of power, it is a matter of time before it ends up having a state of law, but without democracy."

The donation from Convergència arrives just a few days after the death of Josep Maria Sans i Travé, who was director of the National Archive of Catalonia for 23 years, the same amount of time Pujol was president of the Generalitat, a period during which this archive was precisely launched. Former deputy and former president of the European Democratic Party, David Bonvehí, has remarked that the donation is a "recognition of a political party that was an essential part of our country". Bonvehí was one of the people who safeguarded a large part of this collection, as he himself has stated – he thanked his parents for lending him "two warehouses" at their home to store the documentation – and thanked Oriol Pujol for "encouraging" him to bring the documentation to the National Archive.