The meeting called between the republican and post-convergent leadership in Geneva it was to be not just a ceasefire. Also politics of an outstretched hand, beginning by prioritizing agreements in town halls and in the juicy councils.
Everything went to waste from minute one when in the middle of the meeting it was leaked that Junts had agreed with the Socialists to snatch the Provincial Council of Tarragona to ERC. One of the architects of the agreement was there. Albert Batet in flesh and blood, lieutenant of Carlos Puigdemont. When the Republicans demanded explanations, the Post-Convergents shrugged their shoulders as if they wanted to deal with a sword of Damocles on the Republican heads. they made the partridge dizzy. Also at that time, news began to arrive of socio-vergent pacts to oust ERC in municipalities where those of Junqueras had won. The first, Roses and La Bisbal de l’Empordà. It smelled like sulfur.
Despite this, the meeting was held. And it was even addressed to assess a strategic agreement Jordi Turull, present at the ‘fake’ summit, had returned not long ago with the rattle of the single list. But in Geneva the matter passed without pain or glory. Waterloo cut him dry. Even so, they agreed to set up a kind of commission that Junts said they delegated to… Laura Borras. Sometimes a name gives the exact measure of things. That’s where the Republicans woke up. They were kidding.
The sociovergent meetings to share the cake continued. The Republicans seemed offside. But the arrogance that Junts would exhibit – who continued erre que erre in his thirteen – ended up irritating the Socialists. The PSC negotiator got up from the table and ordered Junts to gargle. Then he passed the part to his: ‘They treat us as if we were the service, but what have they believed!’.
The post-convergent maneuver
What Batet thought he had in the bag vanished. The Republicans saw their opportunity and the Socialists stepped in, leaving on paper a socio-vergent entente that could have been general thanks to the ingenuity of the Republicans and the picaresque of Puigdemont’s boys.
To understand the point at which the disagreement between republicans and post-convergents has reached, we must go back to the operation concocted by Puigdemont to overthrow the Aragonese Government. That was the turning point of an entente that was already dying. Governing with Aragonès was the last thing Puigdemont wanted. But Jordi Sanchez he disregarded Puigdemont’s will and agreed with Aragonès. The decision would cost him his head.
Crouching down, annoyed by the presence of Junts in the Government, Puigdemont waited for the right moment to strike. He devised a question of confidence against Aragonès that he believed would precipitate the electoral call. The executing arm was his faithful Albert Batet. It could not be a motion of no confidence Why does it require an alternative candidate? And he opted for a more sneaky path that should produce the same effect.
Aragonès reacted and fired the vice president puignero after he made a show of being aware of the plot. It was then that Puigdemont forced an internal consultation to remove Junts from the Government. It wasn’t as easy as he initially thought. He had to roll up his sleeves and warn those around him that if Junts did not leave the Government, the one who was considering leaving Junts was himself. The rest is history.
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The great beneficiary of the war in the open field between republicans and puiemontistas is now naturally the PSC. He already took advantage of it in 2019. In the Barcelona Provincial Council and in the bulk of the metropolitan regional councils, he achieved the Presidency in 2019 thanks to the support of those of Junts blessed by Puigdemont himself. This one alleged pacts like that of Sant Cugat del Vallès, the most painful of losses.
The municipal elections in May returned the PSC de Illa to first place in Catalonia. The worst part was taken by ERC, which left 300,000 votes along the way. But those votes did not go to Junts. Neither to the CUP. They volatilized. Collboni failed in his attempt to storm Barcelona. But it was not before a candidate who exhibited any star. On the contrary, it was before someone who hid it and who became strong in opposition to Colau. In fact, Trias’s candidacy was a total amendment to the strident and empty rhetoric of Puigdemontism. Thus, the President of the Consell per la República implicitly admitted that his candidates were short-legged and that winning in Barcelona required another stride.