The new councilor of the Catalan Alliance pays tribute to the Spanish flag.

BarcelonaThe Catalan Alliance boasts of being the only pro-independence party and labels other pro-independence forces as "pro-independence." The arrival of people from unionist parties or those who have professed their Spanish nationalism into the party, however, calls this into question. The most significant case is that of Jordi Rierola, the new councilor for Sílvia Orriols's party in Manlleu. Ribeiro, who replaced Roger Saborit in Tuesday's plenary session, is a well-known pro-Spanish nationalist in the town of Osona, according to several residents consulted by this newspaper, who claim he has deleted some "compromising" photographs he had on social media, such as photos of Spanish national team celebrations in his town. "He's changed his tune and now acts like an independentist, when before he was pro-Spanish, but he's always been racist and xenophobic," they assert.

However, some users have published a photo in which he is seen standing at attention before the Spanish flag in Málaga's Plaza de la Constitución during a trip to the Andalusian city. Sources close to Aliança in Manlleu admit that he is not a hard-core separatist: "He's not a Vox supporter, but I haven't seen him lose sleep over independence either; he's more interested in cultural issues than national ones." His posts are directed almost exclusively against the Muslim community and Islam, without referring to the political conflict between Catalonia and Spain. In one, he even goes so far as to legitimize the creation of urban patrols to attack Muslims who commit crimes by republishing a video showing young people supposedly beating up a young man who had committed a theft.

These same sources point out that the decision to place him as number two, partnering with Saborit, was not a decision by the candidate's leader. "The party gave him confidence because he knows a lot of people and can attract voters who are not pro-independence," they point out. In fact, according to the latest CEO barometer, the Catalan Alliance is the party with the fewest pro-independence voters of the four represented in Parliament. The 71% of its voters who want independence place them in last place, compared to 78% for ERC, 82% for CUP, and 90% for Junts. They are also the party with the second highest number of opponents of the state, at 13%, behind only Republican voters, at 17%. However, their gains in votes continue to come primarily from Junts, but also from ERC, with no leaks from Vox to the Alliance yet detected in the polls.

Incorporations from the PP or from the Josep Anglada split

Ribeiro isn't the only Aliança member who comes from pro-Spanish forces. Eduard Canalias, the number 9 of the Alliance in the Lleida district in the last Parliamentary elections, was part of the PP's Girona candidacy in the 2007 municipal elections. Beyond the electoral lists, numerous former members of the xenophobic Platform for Catalonia (PxC) of Silvia Orriols's party, although both parties were anti-independence, are also members.

This is the case of Joan Terré, who was general and finance secretary of the Party for Catalonia, the party that emerged from the dispute over control of the leadership of the PxC and was led by Mateu Figuerola. This was revealed by the Group of Ex-militants of the Catalan Alliance in a thread on its X account, where it recalled that this party, in its declaration of principles, not only opposed independence because it would "increase the oppression that the Catalan people already suffer", but also called Catalan nationalism "exclusionary" and even. These approaches are far from those advocated by the Catalan Alliance, which supports lifting the DUI and making Catalan the sole official language.