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A look at the baubles of power
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On May 15, after a long and tense executive, Marta Rovira joined the path of Pere Aragonès and, in a letter, defended for the first time a “serene transition” for the congress of November 30, convened before the Junqueras’ (temporary) resignation announced. A veiled way of asking the party president to take on this “transition” and move away from the front line. In fact, both had already had a conversation weeks ago to discuss the future of their tandem. Rovira explained to Junqueras that he would take a step back: he considered that the poor electoral results showed the need for a change in leadership. Junqueras replied that he wanted to present himself again and that he wanted to do it with her and even went so far as to present a list of names to accompany them to the management, which did not convince his number 2. The divorce was inevitable.
The distance between the two had been growing over the previous months, especially as a result of the suspicions that had been generated between Junqueras and the team of Pere Aragonès at the Generalitat, especially with Sergi Sabrià, the most responsible for the communication of the executive Junqueras believed that they were trying to make him invisible despite being the president of the party and that he was being left out of some decisions, which is why he considered that the last electoral kicks did not go with him. In Palau, on the other hand, they believed that Junqueras was exercising counterpower to Aragonès and even denounced that the republican leader criticized the ERC government in his meetings with militancy. Junqueras and Aragonès ended up agreeing that the latter would once again be the candidate of the Republicans in the short term – Junqueras is disqualified from running – in a meeting promoted by Rovira, in which the future aspirations of the then still president of ‘Left.
The rovirista manifesto
All of this created a mutual distrust that quickly moved into the public sphere. The first proof of the divorce was the manifesto that was initially signed by around 300 militants – it reached 1,000 signatures – which called for a renewal of the party leadership and, therefore, for Junqueras to leave. A document clearly inspired by Rovira’s theses and, in fact, promoted by some of his collaborators. For the Junkerists that move was a declaration of war, but also a gesture that they believed strengthened their position. Shortly after, they responded with an event with around 500 people in Sant Vicenç dels Horts.
The episode of the posters against the Maragalls, uncovered by the ARA at the beginning of July, further aggravated the confrontation. The militancy demanded responsibilities from the management that was already running Rovira alone because Junqueras had resigned to force the convening of a congress after the European elections. Junqueras, who distanced himself from the scandal despite having presided over the party while structure B was operating, argued that the parallel structures sponsored according to him by Rovira and Sabrià did not inform him of the party’s relevant decisions. For months, in fact, he hasn’t stopped quoting the Signal Pa group with Tomàquet.
Marta Rovira returned in a letter in which she assured that B had been created because Junqueras had asked them to be more forceful in their political action. Rovira also claimed to have informed Junqueras of the posters, a version that he denied. In September, at an event in Olesa de Montserrat, the candidate of Militancia Decidim raised the tone against the rovirists, disassociating himself from any parallel structure and stating: “We will not heal any wound that we have not previously cleaned”.
The alternative to Junqueras had been announced recently. It was at the end of August when the New National Left announced that it would present a battle with a list where they wanted new faces at the top. The question of who would dare to step up and be Junqueras’ rival was resolved on September 19: Xavier Godàs. The candidacy has had the support of Marta Rovira, Pere Aragonès and many of the party’s historical leaders and former government advisers. However, it has not been enough to succeed in being the tool to remove Junqueras from the presidency. Neither were Rovira’s words on October 14, when, in his farewell as general secretary and after pronouncing a battery of reproaches, he asked Junqueras to “avoid a break” and end the cycle “together”. With Junqueras back in the presidency of ERC, the unknown is whether one of the sides will bury the hatchet.
