ERC: after Puigdemont, next ‘legitimate’ president is Junqueras

After Carles Puigdemont abandoned his bid to reclaim the presidency of Catalonia from Belgium, he seemed to pave the way for pro-independence parties to finally agree on a new government. Puigdemont proposed his successor to be Jordi Sànchez, a party colleague imprisoned in Madrid. But Esquerra Republicana (ERC), another pro-independence group, has a different stance: if Puigdemont claimed to be the legitimate president, the next on the list should be vice president Oriol Junqueras, also in jail.

The negotiations to form a new executive are not over, as Sergi Sabrià, a spokesperson for ERC, said in an interview with Catalan public radio on Friday. “It’s true that the agreement is not closed,” he said, and added that Puigdemont’s renunciation “is an important step to starting to have an effective government.”