Together they cannot hold their position in Ripoll

BarcelonaThe president of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, has popularised an expression that has become the motto of Junts. The important thing in every situation, he says, is to "hold your position". Holding your position is synonymous with setting a position and maintaining it no matter what happens without giving in to pressure. In the case of the motion of censure against Aliança Catalana in Ripoll, however, Junts has not held its position, but the impression it gives is that it has bowed to the threats and insults of Silvia Orriols, who in recent days had multiplied in appearances and on the networks to attack the entire opposition, but especially the big one. On Catalunya Ràdio she called them "resentful" and spoke of a "coup d'état", but this tweet from Monday in response to Puigdemont is especially revealing: "I will fall in Ripoll, but you will fall in Catalonia."

This short text concentrates two of the key strategies of the far right around the world: victimization and intimidation. One or the other ends up working. It is a win-win for her. At this point, Orriols' victory is twofold: not only does she manage to retain the mayorship of Ripoll, but she does so by humiliating her main electoral competitor. And without hiding. "I won't make blood out of it, because I already have what I wanted..." she tweeted when the news came out. It is the best scenario for her... and the worst for Junts, which instead of minimising the wear and tear in an operation in which it was already at a disadvantage from the start, has maximised it. And the fact is that in politics you cannot show signs of weakness, because adversaries, and especially the extreme right, know how to smell blood. Having allowed local negotiations to advance until they were almost on the verge of an agreement, and then convincing the local section to back out has been a huge political mistake, which now turns Junts into the donkey of blows to the right and left and projects an image of confusion about the party's ideology.

And with its decision, Junts has come to validate or downplay everything that Orriols has done these past two years. A municipal government that has dedicated itself to stoking hatred against the immigrant community. The latest example is from this Tuesday, with a tweet in which it boasts of not feeding illegal immigrants in a soup kitchen.

Now they can no longer cite, with the lily in their hand, phrases that two years ago could have been called "when these people come to power they will have to moderate themselves by force." We must start from the basis that in these parties the important thing is not the management but the gesticulation (see Trump) and that, therefore, their voters will not judge them by the work of government, which may be non-existent, but by their discourse, because they consider that they say what they think and want to send a clear message to the immigrant community. And with this you cannot compete with rational arguments. Therefore, the questions are obvious: Does Juntos consider legitimate a government that criminalizes a part of the population for a question of religion or ethnic origin? And do you believe that letting Orriols govern and adopting a good part of his agenda (immigration, squatters, insecurity, etc.) is the most effective way to stop the flight of votes to AC?

Juntos and the sanitary cordon

It is true that the European experience does not provide a clear answer, but it does show that there are two models. The cordon sanitaire, which still prevents pacts between the CDU and AfD in Germany (we will see after the elections), and the normalisation of these positions, which is the path chosen by the PP towards Vox. The problem is that just as the PP is still a conservative party founded by a former Francoist minister, Junts has an anti-Franco origin (Jordi Pujol), a transversal ideological component and an emancipatory message and defence of human rights that may now be called into question and affect the profile that Puigdemont has been working on abroad. All of these are collateral effects of a decision that has a depth that goes far beyond Ripoll and, as we said, inaugurates a new political stage in Catalonia in which Junts distances itself from the cordon sanitaire block –PSC, ERC, Comuns and the CUP–. The big question now is whether, after the 2027 municipal elections, we will see municipal pacts between Junts and AC, just as there are between PP and Vox throughout Spain. It would, in fact, be the most logical step.