The PSC and Units, the most stable marriage in Catalan politics

BarcelonaThe PSC and Units per Avançar are the best-matched couple in Catalan politics. The alliance between these two political forces began in 2017, when the socialists started to want to get closer to the skeptical nationalists (or even scared) with the break-away approach of independence and who had already begun to miss CiU. The leader of Units, Ramon Espadaler, embodied this profile: former minister in the government of Jordi Pujol and Artur Mas, he launched in June of that year what he then defined as a "Catalanist" and Christian democratic platform that, in Catalonia in the months leading up to 1-O, advocated for dialogue with Spain with the backing of former members of Unió. The then first secretary of the PSC, Miquel Iceta, did not hesitate to make them an offer to run together in the elections. The wedding was officiated in a hotel in front of the PSC headquarters on Nicaragua street under the slogan "Alliance for common sense and Catalanism" and was the prelude to the move to recruit centrist profiles that Salvador Illa deployed when he landed in the Generalitat. However, and almost ten years after that understanding, Units does not renounce to make its mark to avoid being swallowed by the socialist tide, now that the PSC governs at all four levels of administration.

The pact between the PSC and Units has survived other coalitions forged at that time, such as En Comú Podem or the first Junts per Catalunya, integrated by PDeCAT and Crida. Despite being the junior partner in the coalition, Units has managed to place two of its top figures in the country's main institutions: Espadaler is Minister of Justice and Albert Batlle is Deputy Mayor for Security of Jaume Collboni. In the case of the Government, the close relationship between Illa and Espadaler, dating back to their time in opposition (and in the alternative government, where the leader of Units was in charge of the security portfolio), plays a significant role.

For the first time, Units now has two deputies in Parliament: one is Espadaler and the other is Guillem Mateo, who has been gaining prominence in the group and has a good press among PSC members, according to consulted sources. In the agreements between the two formations, Units has recognized the capacity to distance itself (or not vote) from the socialist position on some ideologically key issues for the space, in the field of family or education. The few occasions on which PSC and Units have voted differently have not caused any earthquake in the socialist ranks. According to party sources, this accredits that the PSC "can dialogue and agree with different sensitivities". "At the parliamentary level, it has not caused any problem. A progressive majority has worked in Parliament," socialist sources tell ARA.

Seduce the moderate abstainer

A Units also positively value the agreement with the PSC, but they do not renounce marking their own profile. Sources from the leadership argue that this benefits both them, as an autonomous party, and the socialists, because it allows them to reach the "moderate" Catalanists who are orphaned from a party, and to whom neither Carles Puigdemont's Junts – which ended up absorbing the also former convergent Demòcrates – nor the initiatives that names like Roger Montañola or Marta Pascal have tried to champion, quite appeal. The same Illa has tried to approach this space with signings like Miquel Sàmper as Minister of Business and Work, in addition to positions that belonged to the PDeCAT and are now in the sottogoverno.

With this idea, Units began to work in November 2024 on a new communication strategy that has culminated in a "reaffirmation" campaign presented to the militants this week. "It seeks to put us on the map and claim that we offer another way of doing politics," explain party sources. The objective is to fish for votes from the pool of moderate abstentionists who, in the midst of polarization, are looking for a Catalanist center option, but without stridency. Of all the colors, they have chosen one of the few that no party uses in its corporate image: white. "A color that does not shout, but that says it all –says the spot–. And what if the blank vote were not the last option?". Soon, the party will intensify its presence on social networks with more relaxed content and street marketing to make itself known in a more informal way.