Pere Aragonès will attend the summit between France and Spain in Barcelona despite the fact that Esquerra calls to mobilize against

The summit between France and Spain to be held in Barcelona on January 19 puts the Catalan government's ability to strike a balance to the test.

President Pere Aragonès will accept the invitation sent by the Government of Pedro Sánchez to attend the meeting, while his Esquerra Republicana party has announced that it is joining the pro-independence mobilizations to protest the meeting in the Catalan capital between Emmanuel Macron and Sanchez.

"The Government will not participate in the unitary mobilization, but it respects and understands it," the spokesperson for the Catalan Executive, Patrícia Plaja, justified on Tuesday.

She, in turn, has confirmed that Aragonès plans to attend the meeting despite denouncing that the Government makes "a partisan use of the summit."

The Generalitat has informed that there is no scheduled meeting between Sánchez and Aragonès on the next visit to Barcelona by the head of the Spanish Government and does not specify what role is reserved for the president in the event.

Nor is it revealed which other members of the Government are going to accompany him.

Plaja has limited himself to stating that there are open conversations with La Moncloa to refine details.

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Esquerra Republicana adheres to the pro-independence protests called in Barcelona by the summit between Spain and France

The Franco-Spanish summit shows that Aragonès serves two decks.

Accused of being lukewarm by the most agitated independence movement, the president stages complicity with the separatist claims, aware that Junts per Catalunya will raise the flag issues in the municipal elections in May.

He has activated the party so that ERC displays acronyms in the mobilizations that the independence movement has called for January 19.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Aragonès himself, ERC national coordinator, the second highest position in the party ranks along with President Oriol Junqueras, decides to attend the Sánchez-Macron meeting as a guest.

"There are two complementary acts," justifies the spokesperson for the Generalitat.

The PSC has appreciated that Aragonès is involved in the summit as host by arguing that this is the function that corresponds to him as president of the Generalitat.

“It is important that he occupy the space that he is invited to have.

And that he act as everyone's president", said the socialist spokesperson Alícia Romero, who, in any case, recalled that the

did not participate in the past "due to prejudice" in a SEAT act in which the president of the company announced a multi-million dollar investment.

The Socialists have shown some annoyance with the decision of the Republicans to participate in the protests.

“ERC has to decide if when it grows up it wants to be an assembly and anti-system party or a government party

While he does not decide, he makes contradictory decisions”, Romero stated.

The PSC considers the assistance of Aragonès a contradiction and that ERC manifests itself

The Franco-Spanish summit in Barcelona trapped Esquerra in a negotiation against the clock to find a partner to help him approve the budgets and he tries not to raise blisters in the socialist ranks.

Once the support of En Comú Podem has been achieved, with eight seats, the Government has an open dialogue with the PSC and with Junts in order to achieve a sufficient majority in Parliament to unlock the accounts.

Esquerra has been repeating for days that the agreement is on track and almost closed with the PSC.

But the good omens do not materialize in anything.

Romero has trusted that the agreement will be closed in "the next few days or weeks" so that the project is approved this first quarter.

However, he has insisted, against the criteria of the Government, that there have been no significant advances.

“ERC has to give in.

The Government will hold the first meeting with Junts this afternoon since December 22.

The training advises Aragonès that choosing the PSC as a partner means "cornering" the

.

All in all, Junts has avoided questioning his attending the summit.

"We positively valued the unity in this pro-independence mobilization", stressed the spokeswoman Mònica Sales, who has announced that the group's deputies will attend the protest.

The CUP will participate in the demonstration and has demanded that Aragonès not participate in the summit after accusing him of holding it in Barcelona due to his policy of "détente" with La Moncloa.

“The summit is Sánchez's propaganda maneuver.

We want to send a clear message that the conflict will be open until there is no referendum”, affirmed the anti-capitalist deputy Xavier Pellicer.

Meanwhile, the

balances because while he assumes a cautious strategy from the Government to participate in the summit, ERC encourages bannerism.

"There is no normal situation in Catalonia," said Marta Vilalta, the spokesperson for the Republicans, on Monday to justify that Esquerra supports the call for mobilization made by former President Carles Puigdemont and sovereignist entities such as the Consell per la República, the ANC and Òmnium.

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