The PP's new "Catalanist" path: speaking more Catalan and defending economic interests

BarcelonaThe PP and Catalanism have been two poles that in recent years, especially since the Process, have tended to oppose each other. But this has not always been the case, and the PP has attempted some Catalanist shifts. While the period of the rise of the independence movement and Alejo Vidal-Quadras's presidency of the Catalan PP are marked by a complete clash, Josep Piqué led a commitment to a Catalanist path, although he was given no leeway from Génova and ended up being ousted. Likewise, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho led a campaign his proposal for "singular financing" when CiU demanded a fiscal pact, but with the Proceso, it turned the page. Currently, according to ARA, strategic internal work is underway within the Catalan PP to promote its own pro-Catalan path.

This newspaper has already explained that several PP leaders advocate for "constitutional Catalanism," which has not been implemented due to Alejandro Fernández's regional leadership, who disagrees with the diagnosis. However, there are now new elements: the engine room of the Catalan PP is working on an ideological corpus that aims to be its own update of Catalanism. Beyond the cadres that support it, there is an intellectual approach to the general strategic coordination headed by Juan Milián. The ingredients are: speaking of "Catalanism," defending the "plurality" of Catalonia and the "interests of the Catalans," with a clear economic profile.

According to popular sources, this push would not vindicate the name of Catalanism as such, which they see as being doomed by the Process, but would rather work, in the style of Piqué, on "Catalanness" and a connection with the Catalan productive and economic fabric made up of small and medium-sized businesses. That is, a Catalanism connected to economic interests.

However, the PP has contradictions with Catalanism, such as its opposition to the official status of Catalan in Europe, even in a vote in the Parliament, and the fact that it has not publicly defended the unity of the Catalan language before the attacks of the Valencian governmentSeveral sources claim that official status in the EU "is not possible," but that "I wish it were." They haven't addressed linguistic unity because the party doesn't want to stir up controversy over the "name," since the vast majority recognizes that they are the same thing. "It's a sterile debate, and we respect that the Valencian Community is called Valencian and the Balearic Islands, Catalan," maintains a senior official.

The key points

The diagnosis of the internal work being carried out by Milián is that, thirteen years after the outbreak of the Process, it is necessary to recover a Catalanism with its own profile. Sources consulted point out that "it is not a question of labels because the PP must be the PP" and that we must start from the fact that the Catalanism that is being worked on internally is based on elements that they believe already characterize the PP such as the commitment to "a decentralized Spain", "solutions close to the citizen" and a "ta" to society, but as a sensitivity to value the plurality of Catalonia. They point out that "speaking more Catalan" has already been done lately with "regular use" by leaders and deputies, "without abandoning the defense of bilingualism and Spanish." In fact, there are internal studies that show that the vast majority of PP voters like to hear their representatives speak in Catalan.

The proposal is far from the strength of traditional Catalanism, but it has points in common with Piqué. With nuances, say the popular sources consulted, such as that "the Process divides Catalonia into two political communities in which the linguistic issue is important" and that the It becomes different from Galicia and the Balearic Islands, with strong regionalist profiles and predominance of their own language. "The Process has done a lot of damage," they lament. "The excess of identity-based discourse" in the past means that the new stage has a different bias from its own profile, in an agenda with priority for insecurity, immigration or housing.

A key ingredient is the "defense of the interests of Catalans" in infrastructure such as the airport, a priority for the PP. Also to defend an "ideological rebalancing of Catalonia" after the influence they find in the CUP, with a "pro-market" accent to "put an end to the culture of No to everything". The popular initiative is supported by the involvement of the mastermind widely praised within the PP, Juan Milián – he is not part of any internal family – and multiple cadres who support this path.

Sintonía

Milian, brand new senator, cultivates a close relationship with Alejandro Fernández – they have liberal sympathies – and enjoys the trust of Feijóo, who has promoted him to the party's state board of directors, in addition to being the mastermind behind multiple internal roles. Several voices consider him "the man of the future" of the party. They consider it good that "more Catalan is spoken in Parliament," but they also dish out criticism: "I would like public officials to speak more in Catalan; it's annoying that there are people in the party who always speak in Spanish," says one leader. Some of the officials they cite as role models are the mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, Milián himself, the secretary general, Santi Rodríguez, and several deputies and councilors.

"Feijóo likes the Catalan language being spoken," another leader assures. In fact, as they recall, the state leader had asked about the PP's use of the language, and therefore encouraged them to do so like Galicia. Another leader concludes that "it's about people being who they are without posturing," "reflecting society naturally" because "within the party there's everything, with positions more rooted in the region and others not so rooted."