Junts want Puigneró to be reinstated as vice-president as part of cabinet crisis deal

Junts per Catalunya have asked Catalan president Pere Aragonès to reinstate Jordi Puigneró as vice-president as part of their demands to remain in government. 

Aragonès, of the senior coalition partner Esquerra Republicana, fired Puigneró as his number two on Wednesday night after a day of crisis talks both within and between the two parties. The president took this decision citing a loss of confidence in his vice-president after Junts suggested a motion of confidence in the head of government on Tuesday night during the general policy debate. 

The fallout of Tuesday's events is expected to rumble into next week, as Junts have set Aragonès a deadline of Sunday to reach an agreement on the conditions to stay in the executive. Next Thursday and Friday, the party will ask their members whether or not they should stay in the coalition or leave.

Junts sent Aragonès a document on Friday night detailing their conditions to stay in the executive, and among them is reinstating Jordi Puineró as the vice-president. 

President Aragonès rejects proposal before Sunday deadline

Yet, in an interview with 'La Vanguardia' daily published on Friday night, the Catalan head of government rejected the content of the document to be negotiated by Sunday.

"The proposal is conceived in order to not reach any agreement. Thus, if they have a serious proposal, willing to seal a deal, we will assess it as I have always said," pointed out Aragonès.

During the general policy debate in the Catalan parliament early on Friday, the politican warned Junts that while his priority would be for the current government to remain in place, "above all" he wants a strong government.

ERC president Junqueras: 'Country must be priority' over party interests

ERC party president Oriol Junqueras asserted that in order to achieve independence "the country must be the priority" ahead of party interests on Friday evening at a party event to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the independence referendum.

"Even if they don't always want to accompany us, we will not stop welcoming them when they stop fighting and start working," the former vice-president of Catalonia said in reference to Junts.

Junqueras defended the need for institutions to "be more transversal, more open" in the face of repression from Spain, rather than abandon them, he said.