The ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, and the former vice-president of the Valencian Generalitat and future candidate for Compromís, Mónica Oltra, have agreed on the need to articulate a broad front of the left that overcomes partisan differences ahead of the next electoral cycle.
Both leaders have defended the construction of common spaces between progressive formations and have called for leaving behind what they have described as "minor differences" to focus on shared political objectives.
A call for unity "beyond the acronyms"
During an event held in the auditorium of Parque de Cabecera in València, Rufián raised the need to take advantage of what he defined as a "historic opportunity" for the left, with the aim of consolidating stable alliances between parties and social movements.
The republican leader defended the possibility of promoting primaries or coordination mechanisms to select unitary candidacies where possible, in order to avoid electoral fragmentation.
In this vein, he insisted on the need to build a "common program" that allows for a response to structural problems such as housing, where he considered that the left has failed in recent years.
Housing, inequality, and electoral strategy
Among the proposals put forward, Rufián stressed the need to advance measures against real estate speculation and warned that electoral dispersion weakens the capacity for influence of progressive forces.
He also called for strengthening the presence of the left in public debate and in new communication channels, especially among young people, whom he considers a key space for political dispute.
In his speech, he warned that, without a common strategy, the left runs the risk of losing institutional influence against the right and the far-right in the next electoral cycle.
Oltra's speech: moral framework and "rearming the narrative"
For her part, Mónica Oltra defended the need to recover a "moral and emancipatory discourse" that allows the left to reconnect with disillusioned social sectors.
The Valencian leader warned that part of the progressive space is adopting, in her opinion, discursive frameworks of the right, which weakens its capacity for political mobilization.
Oltra has advocated for reinforcing a vision of politics centered on social justice, equality, and the defense of what she has defined as "a society without privileges or corruption".
Warnings about the advance of the right and far-right
Both leaders have agreed in pointing out the growth of the right and far-right as one of the main challenges of the next political cycle.
Rufián has warned that the current political scenario demands a coordinated response to prevent conservative and ultra forces from conditioning the institutional agenda.
In that context, he has defended that the key to the next electoral cycle will be the dichotomy between "decency or indecency" and between "democracy or authoritarian regression".
An open debate on the strategy of the left
The meeting has also served to reopen the debate on the fragmentation of the space to the left of the PSOE and the need for cooperation formulas between parties such as Compromís, ERC, Podemos or Sumar.
Oltra has raised the possibility of expanding political collaboration beyond traditional party structures, also incorporating social groups and citizen movements.
Rufián, for his part, has insisted that the lack of electoral coordination has historically weakened the left in key constituencies, especially in electoral systems where the division of votes is decisive.
The event concluded with a shared call to strengthen cooperation between progressive forces at the state and regional level, with the aim of avoiding vote dispersion and consolidating alternative majorities in institutions.