Pere Aragones fit, on Tuesday, the words of Albert Batettin which he demanded that the three demands that Junts has been claiming for a month be complied with or that it be submitted to a matter of trust, with stupor He had, as they say, 12 hours side by side with the vice president Jordi Puigneró at his side, in the general policy debate, and tried to hide his emotions. He knew nothing of the ace in the hole that the postconvergents were going to pull out. “It was not a personal anger, but he immediately understood that the move endangered the entire Government, also the ‘consellers’ of Junts. It was a very serious attack on the institution,” details a Republican source. He avoided replying to Batet at that moment and gave himself time until the turn of his co-religionist from ERC, Josep Maria Jove. In fact, he gave himself 24 hours to settle the matter.
During that night, the ‘president’, obviously, began the exchange of views and perspectives with his closest team. The following morning, Wednesday, Aragonès expanded the circle to include members of his party, among them, Oriol Junqueras Y Martha Rovira and met with Laura Vilagra, ‘consellera’ of Presidency. In those hours of the morning, reliable information arrives that Puigneró knew about Junts’ confidence issue. With Junqueras, Republican sources affirm, there would be no further contact until dawn, when some text messages were exchanged.
Aragonès and Vilagrà decided to summon the Govern to discover the extent to which what the Republicans already called “disloyalty” reached. It was also agreed to summon the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turullfor a meeting alone, without Laura Borrasimmediately after the meeting of the ‘consellers’.
The members of Junts who occupy a seat in the Consell Executiu ate (except James Giro, which, according to post-convergence sources, had an official agenda in the Vall de Bianya) with Turull, Borràs, Batet and Josep Rius. During the meal, agreed that everyone should maintain the commitment to the issue of trust without fissuresfearing that someone could defend their permanence in the Government or relativize the threat that the party had launched.
The interrogation
The ‘consellers’, led by Puigneró, entered the Palau de la Generalitat together. With that rocky unity and support for the actions of his party, the meeting began. From there the versions differ. According to republican sources several ‘consellers’ of Junts modulated the speech. Some lamented that they were in the middle of a struggle between the loyalty owed to the ‘president’ as members of the Executiu and obedience to the party.
Others, perhaps the most media, they did not move from the ambiguous waters of ascription to what Junts said and the will to resolve disagreements. Puigneró admitted that he did know in advance that Batet planned to show the letter of the confidence motion. He was the only one. But JxCat sources insist that his ‘consellers’ did not move one iota from the total affiliation to what was said by the party.
The parliamentary threat unnerved Aragonès, but verifying that the number two of the Govern had hidden the maneuver from him was definitive to dismiss him
After the Consell Executiu, Aragonès moved to the House of the Canonges where Turull was waiting for him for about 45 minutes. Reinforced by the recognition of Puigneró, the ‘president’, according to the Republicans, explained to number two of Junts that he was thinking of dismissing the vice president. According to the postconvergents, in that first part of the meeting, nothing similar was said.
The notice
They do agree in ERC and in Junts that Turull’s tone was always conciliatory and determined to search for solutions. A tone similar to that shown by the ‘consellers’ already at the end of the Consell Executiu. At the time and shortly after the meeting, a recess was held. Turull went to Puigneró’s office and Aragonès met with his team.
It is during that break when Junts made a statement public (at 8:11 p.m.) in which it explained that the ‘consellers’ remained faithful to what was dictated by the party: “They have opted for compliance with the agreement signed between Junts and ERC […] in the same line that Batet expressed” in the Parlament, the day before.
Republican sources assure that this statement angered Aragonès again, because it contradicted “what he had seen & rdquor ;. According to the postconvergents, in that first part, both they had agreed to redress the situation, from what they deduce that, during the break, the ‘president’ talks with “someone & rdquor; and he returns to the meeting with the decision to fire his vice president. According to Palauan sources, that “someone” does not exist (it is not Junqueras) and they consider it evil that the post-convergents return to the tune of the alleged tutorship of the president of the ERC to the president of the Generalitat. Turull did ask Borràs to go to Palau and she arrived accompanied by her circle of trust, but she did not enter the room with Aragonès at any time.
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After the recess, the meeting with Turull was resumed and the Republican made him ugly the different versions of the members of Junts and the literalness of the text sent to the press. It is then when he reaffirmed himself in the dismissal of Puigneró. They held a wide debate, always with good manners, despite the “perplexity” of the secretary general. Turull tried the inevitable, lowering the tension and looking for a intermediate solution. There was none because Aragonès had made the decision, so he summoned Puigneró to his office and told him that he would sign his dismissal. The then vice president, Esquerra sources point out, showed little “resistance & rdquor ;, less, for example, than what Turull himself had shown.
Borràs, Turull and Puigneró left Palau together, to support whoever was their highest representative in the Government, and without answering the journalists’ questions. The teams of the Generalitat began to prepare the Gothic Gallery so that the announcement was solemn, that it exhibited the blow of authority from Aragones.