The CUP could consider entering the Government in the middle of the legislature

BarcelonaThe CUP has not closed the door to enter the new Government but neither has it taken steps to demonstrate that it wants to be part of it. What the names of the ministers will be and what the programme of the incoming executive will be like will remain unknown as long as Junts and ERC do not reach an agreement, but it is also unknown whether the CUP will be present. Right now, the anti-establishment party does not have it on the table, but "in a few days" it could be debated, in the words of CUP MP Eulàlia Reguant in an interview with Europa Press. They run the risk, however, that in a few days the cat will be out of the bag and Junts and ERC will have already agreed on the new government. Even so, the CUP is keeping the door open to joining: Reguant pointed out that depending on how the pact with the Republicans evolves, they could consider having a seat in the executive with the legislature already underway. In other words, they could enter the Government in the middle of the term.

What would it depend on if they take the step? First, that the agreements with ERC are translated into action, and then on whether the Republicans realise that the dialogue table has no future. This is, in fact, one of the main reasons why the anti-system forces do not see themselves joining the executive, given that Reguant has stated that it would be "a little strange" for them to form part of a government that is committed to negotiation. The third variable is for the pro-independence forces to come to terms with each other and not have their trust "broken", an element that the supporters of the CUP consider to be key.

If all this is fulfilled, Reguant places in 2023 - the equator of the mandate, when Pere Aragonès would have to undergo a question of confidence and the table of dialogue will be evaluated - as the most distant date to decide if they take the step in the executive. "We have never closed the door to anything, and we continue without closing it", Reguant concluded. However, the predisposition of the CUP to enter the Government in the mid-term would not be enough: JxCat and ERC would have to endorse it, and they would also have to restructure their particular agreement that, for the moment, they have not yet closed.

New internal debate if the agreement changes

All of Reguant's speculations, however, will lead nowhere if the CUP and ERC's agreement is not fulfilled first and foremost. For the moment, the anti-systemists warn that if any point of the pact disappears - either because Junts and ERC have agreed on aspects that contradict it or because during the legislature it is not fulfilled -, the CUP will be forced to hold "a new internal debate" with the rank and file to decide the position in an investiture of Aragonès. And Reguant warns that if a future vote is stroned for this reason it will not be their responsibility: "It will be the responsibility of those who, in the face of 42 MPs [ERC and CUP], have decided to make their 32 [JxCat] count".

Esquerra, however, is close to the cupaires, and in an interview with the Efe news agency, the Republican MP Sergi Sabrià sentenced that "the agreement with the CUP is not to be changed".  "We are concerned about the agreements we make with ERC", says Junts vice-president Elsa Artadi in an interview with ARA, which will be published today. Artadi also adds that there are elements that are "central" for her party, such as "public-private collaboration". Precisely because of positions such as these, Reguant has stated that there are profiles in Junts that "do not respond to the shift to the left" that both republicans and cupaires want for the new government. And she named names: they are concerned with the current Minister of Territory and Sustainability, Damià Calvet, because "he has spoken out against one of the points of the agreement, the moratorium on large macro-projects linked to the decree law on renewable energies". In this sense, when questioned by Junts MPs such as Elsa Artadi, Ramon Tremosa and Joan Canadell, she maintained that they have "little confidence" in these people and do not consider them to have a profile that is in line with the new government's new direction.

Pressure on Junts

While the CUP is awaiting the agreement that may come out of the negotiations between ERC and Junts, the Republicans continue to put pressure on Carles Puigdemont's party to stop "opposing" and move to unblock the investiture. "There is no reason to make people wait any longer", insisted ERC spokesperson Marta Vilalta in an interview with Europa Press. If Sabrià sent a dart to Junts insinuating that they have not accepted that ERC has won the elections - he said that "it is curious that those who so often" have "given them lessons in unity are now unable to digest the results" of the elections -, Vilalta has referred to them in very similar terms: "It is incomprehensible that those who have always proclaimed unity, the fact of agreeing, going together, and even that their name is called Junts [together], have not made it possible to have this Government as quickly as possible".