Members of the assembly of Puigdemont's 'parallel government' charge against its president and against Comín

Thirty members of the Assembly of Representatives of the Council of the Republic, the pro-independence entity that Carles Puigdemont pilots from Brussels, have issued a letter in which they are critical of the "unilateral measures" adopted by the government of that body, but above all by the "authoritarian drift" of its number two, Toni Comín.

The Council of the Republic is currently formed by the Assembly of Representatives - a sort of parallel parliament - and the Government of the Council itself, and aims to spread the sovereignty process abroad. Now, in order to streamline and improve its operation, Puigdemont has proposed subtracting powers from the Assembly, which would become bicameral, and giving the power to the affiliates so that they are the ones who directly elect the president. In August, some members of the Internal Political Action Commission of the Consell de la República already protested to the former president to express their disagreement with his decision to dissolve the assembly of elected and give more power to the executive organization that he leads.

Now, in an open letter addressed to Puigdemont, under the title Who bothers the Assembly of Representatives, thirty members of that assembly have decided to "raise their voices to publicly denounce the unilateral actions and measures adopted by the Council government to the detriment of our chamber." Making it clear that they understand the "complexity of the exile situation", the signatories criticize the position of the vice president of the Council, Toni Comín, by "insisting that the assembly must abide by the directives of the Council government, an aberrant position in any serious parliamentary system". They also warn that the Council government "unfortunately" has "acted against the Assembly", with "interferences, obstacles and contempt", in an "authoritarian drift" that they especially attribute to Comín.

"Unfortunately," they add, "the presence and actions of Toni Comín, with a very fluctuating political career, within some parties today Spanish, and moved by the promotion of personal interests, put this vital project at risk. Every day that passes with him in a key position, we fear that the Council's project may be marked by mistrust, despotism and obsolescence." Therefore, they urge Puigdemont to "recover the founding spirit" of the Council, to be a "modern, participatory and democratic structure" and not "pyramidal and autocratic proposed by Comín".

Puigdemont launched the Consell de la República after deciding that he would open an international front in the defense of Catalonia's independence. The Consell would function, according to its plan, as a para-government outside Catalonia, waiting to achieve secession, and should protect the independence roadmap. However, mistrust between secessionist forces has frustrated its operation and ERC remains on the sidelines.

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