The convergent front of ERC presents itself to society

BarcelonaAfter some turbulent recent times with internal crises and opposing sectors, ERC experienced this Monday the birth of a new organization that does not seek to take control of the party, but rather to strengthen it and make it more attractive to sectors that have not yet approached it. This is the challenge undertaken by ERC deputies in the Parliament and Congress, Carles Campuzano and Francesc-Marc Álvaro, who have presented Esquerra Democràtica, an association affiliated with the republican formation, whose objective is to attract the centrist sovereignist vote.

Without the defunct CDC, both leaders argue that ERC needs to carve out a space in the center that contributes to making the party the cornerstone of Catalanism. Without making explicit reference, its promoters aim to penetrate the electoral base of Junts and, at the same time, contest the hegemony of the PSC in the country's center ground. The antithesis of the left-wing front defended by their party colleague, Gabriel Rufián, to confront a hypothetical government of PP and Vox in Spain, as their promoters have already made clear in an interview this Monday in La Vanguardia.

This new political project is championed by the republican leadership, as was evident during the presentation of the organization at the Elizalde house in Barcelona, which proved too small to accommodate the dozens of sympathizers and party militants who gathered there. In the front row were the party's number two and three: General Secretary Elisenda Alamany, and Deputy General Secretary, Oriol López. Also present were figures from the convergent orbit, such as the historic lawyer Magda Oranich, who closed Junts' list in the 2017 elections.

In his speech, Álvaro wanted to make it clear that his commitment is not melancholic: "The future defines us more than history and we do not want to return to any moment in the past, neither to the eighties nor the nineties. We are in a moment of national reconstruction because the country has unraveled due to the failure of the Process and, without renouncing full freedom, we must bring hope to the citizens".

"We want to strengthen a central country project like ERC and make it as similar as possible to Catalan society", highlighted the journalist from Vilanova, who appealed to the need to open the party to other sectors to make it "as transversal and plural as possible". To achieve this purpose, its promoters advocate for a liberal social democracy, as they make clear in the foundational text of this entity, which aims to be a kind of idea laboratory for Oriol Junqueras' party.

Campuzano, one of the most prominent deputies of CiU with 3 years in Parliament and 23 in Congress as a service record, has emphasized this need: "We are convinced that the country needs to strengthen to the maximum a political proposal in the center-left space that is not a subsidiary and is of Catalan root." Thus, he has advocated for a left that is "neither prophetic nor aesthetic, with a governing mentality, to do useful politics for the whole country and that places the social question at the center so that the dreams of parents with their children can be fulfilled." A social liberalism that avoids, as both have stated, an "identity withdrawal that will make national fullness impossible".