Catalonia's centre-right PDeCAT party (Catalan European Democratic Party) does not rule out the possibility of an internal rupture due to differences over how president David Bonvehí is conducting negotiations for a proposed confluence with Carles Puigdemont's JxCat (Together for Catalonia) group. "Whenever there opposing options exist, there are always risks on one side or the other," admitted the party's spokesperson, Marc Solsona, this Friday.
But not only that. He also assured that the PDeCAT would be prepared to stand alone in the elections if a deadlock is reached in further confluence talks with the third major political movement in the pro-independence centre-right: the Crida (National Call for the Republic), led by Jordi Sànchez. Said Solsona: "We are a political party. We would not be a good political party if we were not prepared to run in the elections. We are prepared as an organization to be able to run."
Solsona was appearing at a press conference to explain the tense meeting of the PDeCAT executive that this morning addressed the state of negotiations with Crida and the proposal sent by three of the Catalan political prisoners, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Quim Forn, together with the exile minister Lluís Puig.
Prisoners and exiles presented this proposal in the face of the risk of a break off of talks between PDeCAT and the Crida, and in it they committed themselves to creating a new political movement without quotas or vetoes and accepting dual membership, which would postpone for six months the debate over the dissolution of the party. However, Bonvehí submitted this plan to his executive - where he holds majority support - and it was finally rejected by 15 votes against and to five in favour, while 3 members did not vote.
"We don't share that view, so we are committed to continuing on the negotiating path," said Solsona, mentioning the unanimous vote that was also registered today by the executive, in favour of continuing with the negotiations for the confluence.
The PDeCAT party, created in 2016 to replace the dissolved CDC, has been overshadowed politically for most of its short life by the other formations occupying the pro-independence centre-right space, especially JxCat, which emerged as a special electoral ticket to contest the convulsive 2017 Catalan election, and then subsequently became a party of its own.