Puigdemont's 'parallel government' faces elections with the challenge of redefining its future if the leader returns

The Consell de la República has called elections for next February 15 and will face them with the doubt of what role lies ahead.

The pro-independence entity chaired by Carles Puigdemont was designed with the mission of acting as the government of the Generalitat “in exile”, but it has never carried out any formal duties.

Now it faces the electoral process to renew its leadership with the condition of the foreseeable approval of the amnesty law and the predictable return of Puigdemont, sheltered in Belgium since 2017 to avoid being tried by the Spanish justice system.

If its leader returns without judicial charges, and taking into account the pactist turn that Puigdemont himself shows in his other role as head of Junts per Catalunya, the Consell tries to look for a space in the independence space from which to continue claiming some usefulness.

“It is evident that we have to adapt to the new context, with the end of exile and at a time when negotiation with the Government is the dominant route,” says one of the entity's top officials.

“We have no element to think that he will not be presented,” explains a spokesperson for the Consell, when asked if Puigdemont has already made his intention to repeat the position official.

The former Catalan president is the undisputed figure of the Consell, while he pulls the strings of Junts per Catalunya.

His dual powers have forced him to juggle to emerge successfully from contradictory situations that gave rise to a clash of interests.

In October, the bases of the Consell voted in favor of the entity promoting the blocking of the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.

Puigdemont, as the organization's highest representative, had the mission of fulfilling the message, but he focused on promoting a Junts pact with the PSOE to support the re-election of Pedro Sánchez.

“That the

president

wears two hats is sometimes a problem,” says a Puigdemont collaborator.

More information

The Junts group in the Parliament will record its meetings to defuse internal clashes

The

former president

has always justified the usefulness of the Consell to internationalize the demands of the Catalan independence movement and has claimed the need for it to have specific weight in Catalan politics because by acting as a Government “in exile” it can make decisions, even those of a more daring nature. , without suffering interference from the Government or the Spanish justice system.

“If the exile ends, the Consell has to rethink,” reasons a leader of the entity.

The Consell de la República is private in nature and has a base of 103,000 registered people who pay an initial contribution of about 10 euros, plus possible subsequent donations.

It was born after Puigdemont's flight to Belgium in autumn 2017 with the premise of being a transversal entity, capable of bringing together the different factions of the Catalan independence movement.

Based on the impact that the application of article 155 of the Constitution had in Catalonia, the fact that the entity had its headquarters in Waterloo (Belgium) was supposed to guarantee that its leaders, that is, Puigdemont, could have a free hand to govern the “Legitimate” Generalitat and complete the path towards the “Catalan Republic”.

Reality never went according to plan, because the Consell was soon revealed as a stronghold linked to Junts per Catalunya and its loss of prominence was unstoppable.

“Within the independence movement there is a problem of lack of political trust, which may still take time to rebuild.

But, with the new context we are in a position to overcome the strategic division,” observes a senior official from the Consell.

By “new context” he refers to the pragmatic move and rapprochement with the Government that the head of the entity, and ideologue of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, has taken.

“The Consell had identified itself with the path of confrontation and now this has changed.

It is not an inconsistency, but perhaps we should have known how to explain it better.

"There has been a change of step because now there are conditions for negotiation."

The Consell board highlights that “there has not been an express waiver of the unilateral route, but in fact if it is negotiated, the unilateral route is not being executed.”

The Consell states that with the change of script it can contribute to playing a glue role within the independence movement.

There is a fierce struggle between Junts and Esquerra, the CUP has been greatly displaced, for occupying the largest plot of the independence space.

Toni Castellà, Junts deputy and spokesperson for the Consell de la República, stated a few weeks ago that “now that the two Spains have split” it is time for “the independence movement to unite again.”

The Consell highlights that the objective “was always to execute the mandate of the October 1 referendum.”

In this sense, it is noted that the entity can resist with a permanent watchdog role: “If the negotiation ends successfully, a referendum for independence will have been achieved, but if it is not achieved, the independence movement will have to decide how to manage that eventual failure.

One of the functions of the Consell may be to maintain the collective consciousness that there is another way, the unilateral one.”

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