The candidacies of five parties standing in Sunday's Catalan election - Catalan Socialists (PSC), the Republican Left (ERC), Together for Catalonia (Junts), the CUP and Comuns-Sumar - have signed a document in which they commit not to make any deals on post-election support with the extreme right in the Catalan Parliament, specifically, to "not collaborate in any way", either with the Spanish party Vox or the Catalan party Catalan Alliance (AC). The agreement under the title 'Declaration Against Racism and the Extreme Right by the candidatures for the election of May 12th, 2024' is promoted by Unity Against Fascism and Racism (UCFR) and has been signed by Alicia Romero (PSC), Najat Driouech (ERC); Glòria Freixa (Junts); David Caño (CUP) and Lluís Mijoler (Comuns). The manifesto warns that "the extremists represent a frontal attack against democracy" around the world.
Thus, the parties that have signed the agreement include all three of the main pro-independence parties (Junts, ERC and the CUP) as well as two parties aligned in the so-called progressive coalition governing Spain (Socialists and Comuns-Sumar). The two parties currently represented in the Catalan Parliament who have not signed the document are the People's Party (PP) and Ciudadanos (Cs).
Offensive against the extreme right
On April 25th, ERC, the CUP and the Comuns already signed the declaration against the extreme right ahead of the Catalan elections this Sunday. One of UCFR's spokespeople, David Karvala, stated that this Wednesday's document is a more specific agreement "with the specific objective of blocking the path of the extreme right in the institutions of the Catalan Parliament to prevent them from using democratic spaces to attack rights". The first point of the document sets out the commitment not to accept "either by action or by omission" the votes of the far right to form a majority that may be required for the investiture of the next Catalan president and government. In addition, they undertake to prevent these parties from gaining places on the Bureau of Parliament, in the committees and in the appointments made by the institutions. The parties affirm that they "will not subscribe to any joint parliamentary initiative with these parties and will prevent their initiatives from flourishing". A monitoring commission will also be created that will meet regularly to ensure the implementation of the agreement and "resolve conflicts" between the parties.
After signing the agreement at the headquarters of the Lafede.cat social justice grouping, in Barcelona, the political representatives expressed their satisfaction at the renewal of the pact that they already applied against Vox in the last legislature and now will extend to the Catalan Alliance if it wins seats in the new Parliament. Socialist politician Alicia Romero stated that her party's commitment against the extreme right is "unequivocal" and that if Catalans give the PSC their confidence they will form a government with the support of the democratic forces only. In the same vein, Glòria Freixa (Junts) declared that, as the granddaughter of 1930s republicans, "she is clear about the danger of fascism" and emphasized that Junts always joins these pacts when they are "invited". Asked if they would rather proceed to a repeat election than accept the abstention of the extreme right to form a government, PSC, ERC and Junts indicated that they are confident that they will not be in this situation and that they hope that these parties will not get even a single seat.