Parties unimpressed by decision to keep Puigdemont as candidate

More than five months since the election in December and who the next President of Catalonia will be remains a mystery. The most voted pro-independence party, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), met on Saturday to come up with a plan for appointing a head of government and, as was expected after Parliament amended the presidency law last week to allow an investiture from a distance, they chose their leader and deposed president, Carles Puigdemont, who is Germany awaiting a decision on his extradition. Their decision, however, is not to everybody’s liking. In fact, it was met with criticism by the unionist parties, and also the neutral Catalunya en Comú. Even pro-independence ally Esquerra Repuplicana had its say. 

“I don’t want a puppet president,” says PSC 

With the Spanish government making moves to challenge the amendment in court, it is unlikely Puigdemont’s bid will be successful, something the unionist parties were keen to point out on Monday. The head of the Catalan socialists, Miquel Iceta, called JxCat’s decision “a con” and added that swearing in Puigdemont “is not possible and they know it.” The PSC leader went on to say, “I do not want a provisional president nor a puppet Catalan president,” and he urged the Parliament speaker not to make “the profound error” of formally nominating Puigdemont as the presidential candidate.

 PP expects “unviable” candidates 

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Spain’s ruling People’s Party warned that his party expected “unviable” candidates to be put forward as president, even though “in the pro-independence camp they are fully aware that they are impossible because the [presidency] law is unconstitutional.” The spokesman went on to say he was proud of how the Spanish government had handled the situation in Catalonia, saying it had taken “major decisions to save the unity of Spain” and “avoid the fugitive Puigdemont from becoming president.” 

JxCat “wasting time and money,” says Cs 

As for Ciutadans (Cs), the largest unionist party in the Parliament, its spokesman reacted sarcastically to the news that Puigdemont would be put forward as the candidate from Germany: “A colleague should tell him what they admit in private: he won’t be president.” The Cs spokesman also criticized JxCat for “wasting opportunities, wasting money and wasting time.” Stressing the need to form a government, the spokesman called on the “separatist parties” to choose a presidential candidate “who is not accused of a crime or a fugitive from justice and who respects the plurality” of all Catalans. 

ERC calls for “joint” decision 

JxCat’s main ally, the Esquerra (ERC) party, called for a resumption of talks to decide “the next steps to take” in forming a government and avoiding a fresh election. In stressing the need for the parties to work “jointly”, the ERC spokeswoman made it clear that her party would not accept JxCat going ahead and unilaterally proposing an alternative candidate to Puigdemont if and when the court blocks his bid. “There has to be a phase of contacts and meetings, working shoulder-to-shoulder,” she insisted.

 JxCat cleared “absolutely” nothing up, says CatComú

 Yet, the leader of the CatComú party, which aligns with neither the pro-independence or unionist camps, rejected the outcome of JxCat’s meeting on Saturday, saying “they did not clear absolutely anything up.” Xavier Domènech also warned that the slogan “‘Puigdemont or what Puigdemont decides’ does not help to resolve the situation,” and he was critical of JxCat for allowing “just one person to decide for the whole country.”