Junts members vote on coalition future as leadership divided
Pro-independence party president sides with leaving executive, but most ministers prefer to stay
Official members of the pro-independence junior coalition partner Junts per Catalunya will have until 5pm on Friday to decide on the party's status within the Catalan government.
6,465 eligible voters are given a clear question: 'Do you want Junts to continue being part of the current Catalan government?' They will have three options to respond: 'Yes', 'No', or blank vote.
Party leadership is divided on the question, with some of the most senior members of the group erring on the side of leaving the executive, but most ministers under the presidency of Esquerra Republicana's Pere Aragonès preferring to stay.
Jordi Turull, secretary general of the party, is the biggest name not to announce his view on the question. Initially, he said that he would make his vote public, but he has since changed his mind.
Senior figures opt for 'No'
Party president Laura Borràs and former president Carles Puigdemont are both on the side of exiting the cabinet.
Borràs announced her opinion against Junts remaining in government on social media while lamenting that the executive "has decided not to lead independence."
"It is an essential step to recover credibility and a political proposal to change direction towards independence," she added.
Carles Puigdemont, founder of the party and former president of Catalonia during the 2017 independence push, has not explicitly stated his opinion, but most of his closest confidants within the party are for leaving, while he has also retweeted an article from party vice president Josep Rius on digital newspaper El Punt Avui titled, 'Yes to Junts, yes to independence, no to this government.'
Other senior figures among the party that opt for leaving in the executive include Jordi Puigneró, who was fired as Catalan vice president last week, exiled MEP Toni Comín, current research and universities minister Gemma Geis, Girona mayor Marta Madrenas, Albert Batet, Joan Canadell, and Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas.
Most ministers side with 'Yes'
On the other hand, a majority of Junts ministers in the current cabinet believe the best way to achieve the party's goals is to vote 'Yes' and stay in the cabinet.
Among them are economy minister Jaume Giró, foreign minister Victòria Alsina, justice minister Lourdes Ciuró, social rights minister Violant Cervera.
Alsina came out strongly in favor of remaining in the cabinet soon after the voting process was announced. "Leaving the government eight months away from municipal elections is a leap into the unknown," the foreign minister said.
Other senior party members who have positioned themselves on the side of remaining in government are former jailed independence leader Quim Forn, former jailed independence activist Jordi Sànchez, former interior minister Miquel Buch, Barcelona port president Damià Calvet, former Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias, Barcelona councillor Neus Munté, and MP David Saldoni.
Jordi Sànchez, who was jailed for years for organizing protests in the buildup to the referendum, will vote yes to staying in the cabinet: "a clear yes to continue working toward independence, a yes to continue forcing Esquerra Republicana to comply with agreements that they're obviously not complying with at the moment," he said on public broadcaster TV3.
Government crisis
The current crisis began last week, when the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, of the senior coalition partner Esquerra Republicana, fired his vice president, Junts' Jordi Puigneró as his number two 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 second-in-command in cabinet after Junts suggested a motion of confidence in the head of government on Tuesday night during the general policy debate.
Junts then set Aragonès a deadline of Sunday to reach an agreement on the conditions to stay in the executive, but at the same time announced an internal vote for this Thursday and Friday where their members will be asked whether or not they should stay in the coalition or leave.
The underlying reasons for the clash are the different paths both mainstream parties want to pursue in order to achieve independence for Catalonia.
While Junts want to continue the path of confrontation with Spain that peaked in 2017 and calls for exercising "the mandate of the 2017 referendum," Esquerra prioritizes talks with Spain in order to persuade Madrid to agree on a referendum like Scotland did in the 2010s with the United Kingdom.