Leaving in order to return. A few hours after the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) announced in a statement that Oriol Junqueras is to leave the presidency of the party after the European elections on June 9th, he himself explained his decision in a press conference. In this he affirmed that at no time has he felt pressured by his party to resign from the position and that the decision to leave the post is coherent with the letter he published on Tuesday in which he stated that he believed he had the strength to continue leading the party if he had endorsements from the membership.
According to Junqueras himself, he is resigning from the party presidency so that he can "reconnect with the grass roots" and with the whole of the Catalan public "as equals" and not as president of the party, showing himself ready to stand for re-election at its congress on November 30th and to continue presiding the pro-independence party. "I need to listen to people, go out on to the street, talk to a lot of people from everywhere. It seems to me that the best way to do this is on equal terms, not from a certain position or role because I think it is very important to reconnect with society and the grass roots," he explained from the party's headquarters, where a marathon-length executive meeting was held yesterday evening. "With this I feel useful and I think I can help", he insisted.
Differences with Marta Rovira
This decision by Junqueras, who affirms that he does not want to "renounce anything when it comes to helping" and seeks to submit himself to the "explicit and renewed" endorsement of the membership to do so "effectively and fully legitimately", collides with the letter written by party general secretary Marta Rovira, who, on the other hand, is committed to a renewal process of the entire party leadership, both her position and that of Junqueras. Apart from clarifying from the outset that she will not run for re-election in a position she has held since 2011, Rovira also announced that she was making herself available to the party to carry out this transition until its congress at the end of November.
Thus, it will be Rovira who will be at the head of the party when the party has to decide its position, for example, on using or not using its parliamentary votes to invest Salvador Illa as Catalan president. Junqueras today reiterated that it is up to the Socialists and Junts to reach an agreement and that ERC must go into opposition. Aragonès, who was the first victim of the defeat of his party on 12th May, when they lost 13 of the 33 deputies they had in Parliament, already announced on election night that his party had to take an opposition role. Just a few minutes after the vote count, the acting president of the Generalitat demanded individual responsibilities - and he himself decided to leave the political front line - but also collective responsibilities.
Congress on November 30th
The party's statutes state that with the resignation of the party's president, a congress must be called which will in the end take place on November 30th, six months away. As Junqueras explained in the press conference, there was an "absolute consensus" within the party that the congress had to be called and finally this date was set "because it allows a process to be carried out calmly, without haste, trying to avoid electoral disputes". Junqueras and Rovira came to power in the party in 2011 and since then they have encountered no major rivals when it comes to revalidating their positions. If there is a repeat Catalan election, for which ERC does not currently have a candidate, this would be held in October.