The president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, stressed this Monday that his party already embodies in Catalonia the project that the left-wing front promoted by Podemos intends to articulate, in which participate, among others, its spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, and leaders of Sumar. For this reason, he emphasized that he respects the formula with which the left decides to run in the general elections, but has warned that he will not allow anyone to dictate to ERC how to present itself in those elections: "in Catalonia, ERC presents itself".
Junqueras has made these statements in an interview on Tele 5, collected by Europa Press, after being questioned about the event scheduled for next April 9 in Catalonia, in which MEP Irene Montero, the ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, and Xavier Domenech will participate, with the aim of promoting a left-wing alliance ahead of the next general elections.
The Republican leader has advanced that he "surely" will not attend that meeting because he claims to have "many commitments on the agenda, important commitments" related to the Catalan social reality and to work in the municipal sphere.
Even so, he wanted to emphasize that this does not prevent him from conveying all his "sympathy towards all participants, including Xavi Domenech," with whom he shared a university period. He reiterated that he respects that other formations decide to run jointly in the elections, but he emphasized that "in Catalonia, the one who runs is Esquerra Republicana."
Asked if this position implies that he does not look favorably upon the left-wing front project, the president of ERC has responded: "on the contrary, I look very favorably upon everything that represents Esquerra Republicana being Esquerra Republicana".
Along these lines, he has defended that he is "sure that what they propose is precisely what Esquerra Republicana already represents" in Catalonia. However, he does not show himself to be in favor of his party integrating into that front, insisting that he feels "delighted" that ERC continues to be Esquerra Republicana "as it has always been for 95 years of history".
Junqueras marks distances with other formations
After that, he specified that "if the Spanish political parties of the left, right, center or any decide to run separately, together, mixed, divided, united or however they want, then let them do what they deem appropriate" because "ERC is not going to tell anyone what they have to do in their own home".
At the same time, he has stressed that neither will they accept that anyone "imposes" on them the formula with which they must run in theirs. "With all due respect to everyone. That's all we needed," he has emphasized.
Asked if in recent days he had stated that he did not go to prison —after being convicted for the illegal referendum of October 1, 2017— so that Ada Colau would end up being a deputy in an Esquerra candidacy, Junqueras has responded emphatically: "it is an evidence, I believe no one can doubt it". He has reiterated that his commitment is with Catalonia and that he does not wish to evaluate the decisions of the rest of the political actors. "Clearer, the water", he concluded.