"Snowflake filled the zoo but did not decide what he ate": Gabriel Rufián, in ten sentences

BarcelonaThere are still a few hours left to define whether Ada Colau's Broad Front and Irene Montero's Podemos will converge into a single left-wing candidacy in the State. In Catalonia, it will not happen. Gabriel Rufián regrets that ERC has closed the door to running with the Comuns and assures that in the last few hours he was about to quit, but that, "out of responsibility," he remains at the head of the republicans' candidacy for the next general elections. As always, in this Friday's interviews on RAC1 and TVE, the republican spokesperson left a string of phrases and slogans that we compile below.

"Yesterday I was about to leave and they stopped me [...] If there is a minimum possibility and people who might end up voting for ERC and beyond because of my presence, I have to stay out of responsibility".

In recent days there have been constant conversations and meetings between Rufián and the ERC leadership, who made it clear to him at all times that they would not join a movement with Comuns. "It is clear that a part of the ERC leadership does not know Madrid", he lamented on RAC1, convinced that from Calàbria street the danger of a right-wing and far-right government in the State is underestimated.

"I have failed, we have failed. There are hours left, but it is very likely that it will not happen".

Rufián has distributed responsibilities for the failure. First, to the PSOE, for calling elections when the left was not prepared. Then to the party leaderships, of the Broad Front, of Podemos and also of ERC.

"I apologize to the people. Something that no party has done yet. I came to think that, if I reached this point with enough electoral strength, I could drag the party apparatuses along".

Despite apologizing, he explained that he risked it all for unity and did everything that was in his power.

"This is a war of egos, but the ego is like cholesterol. There is good and bad."

Rufián is convinced that egos are necessary, also in politics, but that, in the case of the parties to the left of the PSOE, they have been the main cause of the division.

"My job is not to please just anyone in an ERC office, it is to place ERC in a winning position [...] I am in ERC for the membership, not for someone who is in the offices".

The interview on RAC1 began with a direct dart at Oriol Junqueras, from whom Rufián has been distancing himself. Even so, he stressed that he is "more Junquerista than Junqueras".

"When the first measure of the PP-Vox government is to outlaw ERC and Bildu, will we remember the pact between Ada Colau and Manuel Valls?"

Rufián acknowledges that one of the reasons for the Esquerra leadership's reluctance to form any alliance with Colau is the memory of what happened after the 2019 municipal elections, when Colau became mayor with the votes of Manuel Valls, unseating the winner of those elections, Ernest Maragall. In any case, he asks that this event be left in the past and overcome.

"Snowflake filled the zoo, but he didn't decide what he ate"

The ERC spokesperson in Madrid is the best-rated leader both in Catalonia and in the State according to the polls. He is aware of his electoral appeal, but acknowledges that he does not have as much room for maneuver as he would like within his party. The phrase about the snowflake was prepared: the first chapter of his new book, which will be presented next week, is titled precisely Snowflake.

"Digital power is the most powerful. I try to be present on people's phones, whether they like it or not. And when people get home, they watch a video of people eating hamburgers or one by Vito Quiles".

A few months ago, in a joint event with Irene Montero, Rufián already left a phrase that defined his commitment to political communication on social media very well: "I prefer to fill TikTok than libraries".

"I am loyal to my party. I always said that I would stay with ERC. And what I ask of ERC is that it assumes its historical role".

At no point, he said, has he had it in mind to replace Yolanda Díaz as leader of the state left-wing parties.

"Rufián wants to have trusted people [on the list]. And who doesn't? Doesn't Nogueras have trusted people?"

One of the conditions he set for ERC to repeat as a candidate was to have people he trusted in the parliamentary group, taking into account that until now he had had disputes with the majority of the republican deputies.