Clara Ponsatí and Jordi Graupera are to present a new Catalan pro-independence party, according to the strong hints they dropped this Monday on social media. In their respective posts on X, the Junts MEP Ponsatí announced a new "political proposal for Catalonia", while the philosopher Graupera has spoken of a "new political project". This "project" or "proposal" is called Alhora - which means "at the same time" - and will be presented on Sant Jordi's Day (April 23rd) at the Teatre Borràs in Barcelona. "Independence and good government, at the same time," says the new party's only post on X. "The country needs to be turned around," adds Graupera.
Around six months ago there was already talk of the possibility of Ponsatí forming a new party, having become more and more detached from the political line of Junts, especially after publicly criticising the exile strategy. That was in July, while evaluating the setback that the EU General Court had given to the independentists, when she asserted that it was necessary to reflect on how the European ruling was an "end of a stage" that required the independence movement to reflect how it had managed the political expectations in its post-2017 strategies.
Clara Ponsatí's X post: "On Sant Jordi's day, with @JordiGraupera and others, we will present a political proposal for Catalonia."
Jordi Graupera's X post: "The country needs a turnaround. On April 23rd, with @claraponsati and others, we present a new political project. 18:30, at the Teatre Borràs in Barcelona. I would really like you to be there."
The X post from Alhora: "Independence and good government, at the same time". The party TV advertisement continues the same theme by posing other apparent choices and suggesting the "at the same time" response: "Do you want a good doctor, or a doctor that speaks Catalan? Do you want to have roots or do you want to have a future? Do you want to look after your family, or do you want a good job?"
The announcement has been made public in the middle of the vote by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) on whether to go ahead with its plan to stand in the next Catalan Parliamentary elections - due within a year - by forming a non-party, civic list. "Do you approve of the Assembly promoting the Civic List for Independence in the next elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, in order to put independence into into effect?" is the question that ANC members have been able to answer since last Friday in the consultation organized by the platform to decide its future. Voting will be open until March 14th and the results will be known on Saturday 16th, before the official presentation of Alhora. The debate on what has often been referred to hypothetically as the "fourth pro-independence space" seems to be more alive than ever.
As for Graupera, originally a journalist who subsequently became a university professor in New York, he already presented a pro-independence political proposal of his own for the 2019 municipal elections in Catalonia: it was called Primaries. In Barcelona city, the project failed, obtaining only 3.7% of the votes and no councillors, while in the rest of Catalonia it obtained a total of 26.