Puigdemont: “We need to form a new political party”

Barcelona (CNA).- The Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said that his party, liberal CDC, should be “renewed” and members should not even be afraid of forming a new one, under a “new name” and “new leadership”. In an interview with CNA, Puigdemont said that CDC has to have “new priorities” and “new messages”. Former president of Catalonia and the current president of CDC, Artur Mas, also said this week that the party should change. CDC is celebrating an internal consultation on the 21st of May to decide about its own future. “For me it is very clear. As a member, I think we need to create a new party that uses the best of the CDC tradition but which is primarily focused on the future”, said Puigdemont. 

The Catalan President said Catalan liberals need “a new tool” and to think about the future “without any complex”. Asked whether he would keep the name ‘Convergència Democràtica’ or change it, he said that they need to “renew everything, make everything from scratch”. “We need to get new people on board, people attracted by new messages, new brands, new leadership and new priorities. Everything is still to be done. We shouldn’t put limits on ourselves”, he pointed out.

Puigdemont argued that there are a lot of potential new leaders in the local arena. “Mayors are an impressive asset”, he said. “I want a party built from the bottom to the top, because in our base we do have a fantastic source of talent”, he stated. According to Puigdemont, these “new people that have nothing to do with the politics of the past, will be very useful for the politics of the future”. “This would be the party in which I would feel comfortable”, he added, reiterating that people want them “to change profoundly”.

CDC was traditionally part of the larger federation Convergència i Unió (CiU) which split because of differences in regards to the pro-independence movement. While CDC has become openly pro-referendum and pro-independence, Unió rejects any move towards independence if there is no agreed process with Spain. The latter did not achieve any representation in the Catalan Parliament nor the Spanish Congress in the last election, when for the first time in 30 years CDC and UDC ran separately.

CDC has also been hit by a number of corruption scandals, the most damaging being the Pujol one; Jordi Pujol, Catalan President for 23 years and mentor to Artur Mas, confessed to hiding a fortune in Andorra for more than three decades.