Puigdemont unilaterally imposed a 'no' to the amnesty and stirred up internal disagreements in Junts

Iñaki Ellakuría

Victor Mondelo Barcelona

Barcelona

Updated Sunday, February 4, 2024-01:36

• The Panel Only 7% of Sánchez's voters support him making more transfers to Junts compared to the 26% who ask to call elections

• Law Congressional lawyers believe that this amnesty cannot be voted on again

Far from the image of a monolithic block articulated around

Carles Puigdemont

that

Junts

transmits in Madrid, the reality is that the political strategy regarding the amnesty that is dictated from the Waterloo

bunker

arouses more and more misgivings within the

neoconvergent

, regarding all in the supporters of a gradual return to

Pujolist

pragmatism - weakened after the failure of

Xavier Trias

in Barcelona - and who consider that too personal interests are being followed.

This climate of distrust towards Puigdemont and his entourage, in which the lawyer

Gonzalo Boye

exercises almost absolute influence, is also stirring up the internal war of power and protagonism that has fractured the group in the Parliament: with accusations of harassment of supporters from the president,

Laura Borràs

, to the hard core controlled by the general secretary,

Jordi Turull

.

The strategic differences regarding the amnesty emerged this week when Junts voted against the bill, believing that it does not shield all those accused of the

process

. In the leadership of the

neoconvergents

there were doubts about the meaning of their vote, with supporters of abstention - a way of not opening hostilities with the

PSOE

- or even of approving the text and continuing to negotiate with the Government other guarantees so that those prosecuted for terrorism and those suspected of collaborating in Russian interference in Catalonia draw lots for the dock.

Those most in favor of supporting the amnesty, who hope to reach an agreement with the PSOE in the next month, fear political and emotional consequences that would cause the law to fail. Both because many defendants from Junts and the

PDeCAT

who should be held accountable before the courts would be "left hanging"

, and because the grassroots independence movement, which, while celebrating the setbacks to

Pedro Sánchez

, could feel like a failure that there is no amnesty after months of nationalist propaganda presenting it as the surrender of the State.

All these doubts and more were present in Junts until mid-morning on Tuesday, still with the negotiating teams of the two parties talking. According to nationalist sources, they were suddenly cleared by Puigdemont in a telephone communication with

Míriam Nogueras

, spokesperson for the group in Congress. Following the thesis of his lawyer Boye, who maintains that with the current wording of the amnesty "it could be a drain" for the judges, the former president of the Generalitat gave the order to vote against and, immediately afterwards, Turull summoned the executive of the party to inform her.

This vote was also influenced by Puigdemont's war with

ERC

and the fact that

Oriol Junqueras

announced his trip to Madrid to celebrate the supposed approval of the Amnesty Law from the Congress rostrum. The hard core of Junts is not willing for the Republicans to obtain any type of political benefit from a law that, they emphasize, can only materialize thanks to their ability to coerce the PSOE.

However, the Government's evident annoyance at the rejection of the amnesty and the growing feeling that the legislature is moving towards an electoral advance in which the sum of seats from the

PP

and

Vox

would reach the majority this time shook up the

neo-convergent

space and surfaced. some critical voices. Like those of former counselor

Andreu Mas-Colell

, accused of using public money for the international projection of the

process

, who declared to

El País

that Junts has gotten into "a quagmire" and called it "delusional" to think that "this is about everything." or nothing". Added to these statements was the announcement by former councilor

Miquel Sàmper

, a man close to Borràs, of his abandonment of Junts militancy.

Fragmentation

Although the feeling that the party only does and says what interests Puigdemont is spreading, the law of silence prevails in the leadership bodies, especially after the open conflict in the group of the Parliament of Catalonia has resulted in the expulsion of one deputy and the investigation of another, both of whom are close to Borràs.

Puigdemont faces a growing internal crisis motivated by the increasingly unsustainable situation of the president, who, after being convicted of corruption, is gradually losing all authority in the party. This circumstance was revealed this week in the tense meeting of the executive in which the expulsion of

Cristina Casol

was agreed , the deputy close to Borràs who reported harassment in the parliamentary group of the

neoconvergents

. After an investigation commissioned by the Parliament denied it, the Junts management ruled on the forced departure of the parliamentarian despite the fact that Borràs defended her continuity.

However, those close to the president are determined to put up a fight. Casol has refused to hand over the deputy's certificate and will continue to erode her former formation from the mixed group and the media. In her statements to TV3, she accused Junts of having punished her with "very aggressive machismo" and subjected her to "pointing, shouting and criticizing her clothing."

From another flank, Aurora Madaula

, vice president of Junts and very close to Borràs,

is attacking the leadership .

The secretary of the Parliament Board followed in Casol's footsteps and last week she also filed a complaint against the Junts group for alleged harassment before the Chamber's Equality Office. «Sexist violence is saying that you should laugh more to be able to progress at work. How many men are valued for their smile? "Sexist violence is being belittled at work, not being listened to, or a proposal being modified without your opinion," he had proclaimed in the plenary session of Parliament in November, to the astonishment of his colleagues. After making this public accusation against her party, Madaula took medical leave, while Junts began an internal investigation to purge her.