Catalan president criticizes Junts for linking migration to crime

Catalan president Pere Aragonès warned Junts that linking migration to crime "does a disservice to the country," after the pro-independence party called for Catalonia to have the right to deport convicted migrants who re-offend.

"Linking migration and crime is a mistake and abandons the long tradition of integrative Catalanism that Junts has previously defended," he said in an interview with the newspaper La Vanguardia. 

On Wednesday, the Spanish government reached an agreement with Junts to transfer immigration powers to Catalonia in exchange for Junts abstaining in three votes in Congress. The deal has been strongly criticized by most of the parties, in particular by Esquerra (ERC). 

"We will not engage in populist discourses that use migration for electoral purposes," Aragonès added.  

Catalan elections in 2025 

Pere Aragonès expressed his willingness to be the candidate for ERC in the upcoming Catalan parliamentary elections. "I have all the energy and strength to continue," he said.  

The Catalan president reiterated his commitment to completing the legislature and announced plans to call for elections in February 2025. 

"The candidates for ERC are decided by the party, and therefore, we decide them collectively through established procedures. I will not bypass these procedures," he clarified.

'Amnesty law must be robust' 

Aragonès said the amnesty law, which is currently going through the parliamentary process for approval, must be "as robust as possible."  

"There will be attempts by very powerful opponents in Spain to sabotage the implementation of the law, both in spirit and in form," he warned. 

Lawmakers in the Spanish Congress last week rejected amendments proposed by right-wing Spanish parties to the amnesty law, which will now be debated in the Senate.