The candidate of Junts per Catalunya in the general elections on 29 November next, Míriam Nogueras, has toughened her discourse against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and has insisted that her party will not run in the elections in order to guarantee the continuity of no Spanish leader in La Moncloa. In an interview published this Sunday by El País, the pro-independence spokesperson blamed the PSOE for the breaking of its parliamentary agreements and defended the view that Spain’s political future must be conditioned by Catalonia’s demands.
"I’m not running to put in or remove Spanish presidents", Nogueras said when asked about the chances that Junts would facilitate a future investiture for Sánchez or for Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The leader avoided committing her votes to either of the two main national parties and claimed the negotiating strategy that allowed her party to be decisive during the term that began in 2023.
The pro-independence candidate has been especially critical of the current head of the Executive, whom she accuses of having failed to meet the commitments made to Junts and of not having succeeded in improving citizens’ living conditions. In particular, she has questioned housing policy, the high cost of living, and the inability she attributes to Sánchez to reach political agreements, arguments with which she justifies her refusal to facilitate a new phase of government led by the socialist leader.
Nogueras has also sent a message to the PSOE about negotiations after the elections. In her view, the socialists will have to decide whether they stick with their bid for Sánchez or seek an alternative that would allow new parliamentary agreements to be reached. This position aligns with the stance previously expressed by Junts to consider an eventual socialist government without Pedro Sánchez, provided that it implies concrete progress for Catalonia.
Junts holds the PSOE responsible for the breakdown of investiture agreements
The interview comes after a legislature marked by the changing relationship between Junts and the coalition government of PSOE and Sumar. The seven MPs of the independence-leaning party were decisive for Sánchez’s investiture in November 2023, after both parties reached a political agreement that included commitments related to amnesty, national recognition for Catalonia, and various jurisdictional matters.
However, relations between the two formations deteriorated progressively until they led to the breaking of their agreements. Nogueras argues that it was the PSOE that caused the distancing by failing to comply with what was agreed, and lists among the pending initiatives legislation against housing squatting and certain tax reliefs aimed at families, the self-employed, and small businesses.
The candidate has defended that Junts achieved important results during the two and a half years of parliamentary collaboration with the Socialists. Among them, she calls for tax-saving measures for Catalan companies and sports entities, although these are figures provided by the party itself.
She has also questioned Sánchez’s role in the approval of the Amnesty Law, one of the main conditions that Junts demanded in order to make their investiture easier. Nogueras argues that it was her party that forced the Socialists to change their initial position, noting that the PSOE had dismissed that measure before the July 2023 elections.
Looking ahead to a new legislature, Junts keeps among its priorities a special financing model for Catalonia, greater powers in immigration, and guarantees for the protection of Catalan, demands that the party intends to put back on the table if its MPs are needed to form a government.
Nogueras takes aim at Feijóo and accuses ERC of acting as support for the PSOE
Despite her criticisms of Sánchez, the independence-leaning leader has also shown no willingness to facilitate an Executive of the PP with Vox. Nogueras believes that Feijóo is conditioned by Santiago Abascal and has accused the Popular Party of maintaining a discourse contrary to Catalan demands.
The candidate has recalled that, after the 2023 elections, Junts decided not to facilitate an investiture for the popular party leader, despite the fact that the PP had been the most voted-for force. In this regard, she has asserted the role of her seven MPs to prevent an alternative led by Feijóo from gaining traction, although she has avoided specifying what position her party would take in all the scenarios that may arise after 29N.
Junts’s strategy involves maintaining a differentiated position with respect to the left and right blocs, with the aim of ensuring that no parliamentary majority can be formed without taking into account its demands. This circumstance also explains the confrontation it maintains with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and its candidate, Gabriel Rufián.
Nogueras has accused the Republicans of having acted during the last few years as a usual support for the PSOE and has claimed that Junts has managed to push forward its own legislative initiatives from the opposition. The leader believes that her party represents an independence-based alternative that is not subordinate to the strategies of the state parties.
The rivalry between the two candidacies will be one of the campaign’s elements in Catalonia, where Junts and ERC compete for a large part of the pro-sovereignty electorate and for the ability to influence the composition of the next Congress.
The return of Puigdemont and the electoral battle of 29N
Nogueras’s statements are made in the midst of the election campaign, in which Junts is running under the slogan "Catalunya al centre" and seeks to preserve its capacity to influence in Madrid. The party intends for the elections to allow it to strengthen its parliamentary representation and regain prominence in a political setting marked by competition among the main state parties.
The campaign will also be conditioned by the future of Carles Puigdemont, president of Junts and former president of the Generalitat, whose return to Catalonia is scheduled for after the elections. Nogueras has defended that the independence-minded leader remains fully involved in the party’s political project, although it will be he who decides the circumstances of his return.
Puigdemont will take part via videoconference in various election events, including the main rally that Junts will hold on November 22 in Castelldefels (Barcelona). His virtual presence aims to strengthen Nogueras’s candidacy, who again leads the list for Barcelona after having served as a parliamentary spokesperson during the last legislature.
The party is facing the 29N with the intention of repeating the decisive role it played in 2023, although the possibility of conditioning a new investiture will depend on the distribution of seats and on the majorities that emerge from the ballot boxes. For now, Nogueras insists that her priority is not to guarantee Sánchez’s continuity or facilitate Feijóo’s arrival, but to ensure that Catalan demands have a decisive weight in the decisions of the next Government.