Catalan president in exile Carles Puigdemont has come out in defence of the proposal made by three of the political prisoners - Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Quim Forn - along with exiled minister Lluís Puig, for the PDeCAT to dissolve into a JxCAT which would not set quotas for party representation. Puigdemont made his position clear, a few minutes after the PDeCAT executive had rejected this proposal.
Puigdemont's statement came in the context of today's meeting of the PDeCAT (Catalan European Democratic Party) to attempt to resolve its own future and the crowded and confusing political panorama of Catalonia's pro-independence centre-right.
"For years I have been very politically and personally close to the ministers Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Quim Forn and Lluís Puig. Even more so today. What they have proposed deserves applause, for their responsibility and empathy at a decisive moment for our political space," the president in exile said emphatically.
"Inclusion and not rejection; this is the tradition we come from, which we have shared in the good times and in the bad. And which we will continue to share with all those people who want to join without exclusions. Thank you for your generosity and know-how!" he added.
The proposal from the four ministers suggested a confluence of the PDeCAT and the Crida (National Call for the Republic), presided over by political prisoner Jordi Sànchez, with both becoming part of JxCat (Together for Catalonia), which would be constituted as a "political movement without party quotas or vetos".
However, the majority of the PDeCAT leadership proposes a coalition formula for the coming together of the parties, with posts distributed to members of each group, under a quota system.