Salvador Vergés, the new spokesman for Junts who is not a classic convergent

BarcelonaHe is one of Junts' rising stars, thanks to the direct support of former president Carles Puigdemont and the party's mayors. He started from scratch, without any backers or municipal political experience, but Salvador Vergés i Tejero (Olot, 1976) managed to become the third candidate on the Girona list in the 2021 Catalan elections thanks to a hard-fought primary. Three years later, he headed the list for the district, joined the party's executive committee as the infrastructure representative at the party congress, and, as of this week, is the spokesperson in the Catalan Parliament. What is Salvador Vergés like?

With only four years as a member of parliament, he has been chosen to be the face of the party in the chamber, partnering with Mònica Sales, after having made a name for himself in local politics and with interventions in plenary sessions defending farmers and the commuter rail issue. In an interview with ARA, he explains that two political figures inspired him to become politically active, albeit to varying degrees: former presidents Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont. In both cases, it was through their advocacy for independence, though he has also become a sectoral figurehead.

A civil engineer who has also worked as a farmer and later as an agribusiness entrepreneur, he lives on a farm in Vall d'en Bas, and his political profile is not that of a typical Convergència supporter. He wasn't a member of any party until 2012, when the Catalan government, led by Mas, shifted towards independence: "After the first major pro-independence demonstration, when [Mas] understood the people's clamor for independence, the very next day I got my Convergència membership card to support him," he maintains. He wasn't involved in any sectoral group or internal party affairs; it was simply a gesture to applaud the former president's approach. He didn't then switch to the PDECat party, and it wasn't until Puigdemont's 2018 presentation of the National Call for the Republic that he felt hopeful again, although he wasn't successful. He got involved "at the local level," and it was a taste of what was to come.

"I didn't know him at all, I'd never even seen him," he asserts about Puigdemont, whom he considers a "national role model" and the one who pushed him into politics. His political involvement was when he had his first real contact with politics. "I decided to leave the business world and enter politics," he recalls. At the time, he was running the family business selling beef and making hamburgers, which is still going strong, though he's no longer at the helm. In the last legislature, he became a leading politician in the farming sectorIn the midst of the protests, she managed to bring the Revolta Pagesa (Farmers' Revolt) to the Catalan Parliament amidst institutional discontent and tensions with the government. Now, she's been involved in the chaos of the commuter rail system, as she's currently the spokesperson for territorial issues. "I entered politics for independence, but the process is unfolding as it is, the landscape is changing, and now I'm focused on very specific sectoral issues," she summarizes.

The mountain

His rise cannot be distinguished from Puigdemont's, but neither from that of the mayors, as this newspaper has observed from the municipal world More visibility was requested for VergésThis, coupled with the clamor for him to be the leading figure of the active opposition, is a testament to his extensive experience. Mayors often have a significant influence, such as traffic problems or the need for a roundabout, and they turn to him for guidance. However, when Puigdemont entrusted him with the role of spokesperson, he had no hesitation and expressed his gratitude for the confidence placed in him. "If you're involved in a political project and they ask you for a higher position, you either accept or you go home," he concludes. A lover of the mountains and sports, he possesses a tenacious and demanding nature, driven by his passions. For example, he summited 50 peaks over 2,500 meters in the Ripollès region in 27 hours, nonstop and alone, wearing a blue bracelet made by his daughter. Now, he has embraced the demanding nature of politics, sleeping only three hours a night if necessary. With a writer father, he also enjoys writing short stories, though he has little time these days, a fact his wife and three children notice. Now he is motivated to be one of the faces of the strong opposition to Salvador Illa.