'Suicide,' 'new opportunity,' 'at a crossroad': opposition react to Junts' cabinet exit

Junts per Catalunya president Laura Borràs has confirmed that the party will leave the coalition government after a majority of its membership voted in favor of exiting the cabinet shared with Esquerra Republicana. 

The party's internal consultation came after two weeks of a deep crisis of confidence between the two main pro-independence parties in Catalonia that have shared the executive for years. 

Catalan president Pere Aragonès has confirmed he will speak publicly later on Friday evening to respond to the decision of Junts. Anticipating a 'Yes' vote in favor of leaving the administration, ERC have already been considering their options at governing solo in Catalonia, something that will be very difficult considering they have only 33 seats in the parliament of a total of 135. 

Opposition have criticized the lack of organization in the Catalan government. 

Carlos Carrizosa of the unionist Ciudadanos party considers the decision of Junts members to leave the executive an act of "suicide of the 52%, whatever happens to the government." The 52% is a figure that refers to the results of the last Catalan election, held in February 2021, in which 52% of votes were for parties in favor of splitting with Spain. 

The Cs leader also believes that the highly split membership vote of Junts has torn the party "in half." Carrizosa also indicated that, among the future scenarios that can be considered from this point, the Socialists guarantee "stability," while his own Ciudadanos party guarantees "opposition to separatism in terms of ERC, loyalty to Catalans and the rest of the Spaniards."

The Socialists, meanwhile, leaders of the opposition in the Catalan parliament and who won most votes in the last election, has called an extraordinary meeting of party officials to deal with the "serious open situation" in Catalonia for Monday. 

Salvador Illa, leader of the Catalan Socialists, will chair the meeting, and a press conference will be held in the afernoon.

Jèssica Albiach of left-wing En Comú Podem views the situation as "a new opportunity to put Catalonia on the road with a progressive majority." 

ERC, now in the administration alone, will be a minority government, which means president Pere Aragonès will have to study parliamentary balances and options to continue moving forward with the legislature. Each bill and law put forward will have to be negotiated with opposition parties in order to be passed. 

After the last election, the ECP leader pushed for a left-wing coalition between her own party, the Socialists, and Esquerra, and lamented that "two years lost and a broken government, in the middle of an economic crisis, is never good news" following the decision of Junts per Catalunya. 

Far-left pro-independence party CUP view Friday's developments as a "collapse of the legislature." 

Speaking on TV3, MP Eulàlia Reguant said she believes the government is currently "at a crossroads," before reproaching president Pere Aragonès for having "closed the door" to all the proposals that have been presented to him since his investiture, reminding him that he must be "aware" of the country's social and economic situation.