Junts moves its campaign to the Puigdemont electoral headquarters in the south of France

The rush for the Catalan electoral event has accelerated the move of Carles Puigdemont, who has moved from Belgium to the south of France. He himself has said that he still has some things to collect from the House of the Republic in Waterloo, which has been his residence for the last six and a half years — since he left Spain in 2017 to avoid being accountable to Justice-. But now he has settled in the Vallespir area, near the French town of Ceret, and there he is preparing his base of operations to try to return to the Government of the Generalitat. With the amnesty on the horizon, Puigdemont is strengthened.

The entire Junts per Catalunya apparatus has moved to France to assist in the electoral campaign, buses will be mobilized to provide support and the party is looking for solutions to try to solve the obstacles involved in promoting a candidate abroad. Puigdemont dispatches from a

coworking

center in Perpignan, he will not be in any debate between candidates and he already knows in advance that, just as has happened to him in the various electoral calls since he left Spain, on May 12 he will not vote.

The south of France is the new epicenter of Puigdemont's activity. In 20 days he has had two public events in Elna and another in the vicinity of Perpignan, in addition to granting an interview, the first in more than half a year. The candidate, according to his team, tries to connect with the different social concerns that exist now in Catalonia. Despite not having been absent as long as his number two in the candidacy—businesswoman Anna Navarro, who has lived in the United States for 30 years—Puigdemont is aware that the situation today is different from that of 2017. He regularly maintains contacts and meetings. with social entities and representatives of different sectors.

Those around him assure that the former president feels comfortable in his new region of residence. Good command of the French language, he has shown interest in the neighborhood, such as when he went to watch a rugby match of the Perpignan Dragons team. Publicly he has been seen without his usual dark blue suit with a tie, which he has changed for jeans and rubber-toed sneakers. The talk show host Pilar Rahola posted some images on social networks.

To define the new location, neither Puigdemont nor its surroundings refer, in any case, to the south of France. They always identify the territory as “

Nord Catalunya

”, despite the fact that – in addition to the region belonging to France – it is difficult to find someone who is fluent in Catalan in the triangle between Perpignan, Elna and Argelers. The only authority who has been publicly seen with Puigdemont is Nicolas Garcia, mayor of Elna, with communist ideology and sensitivity to the Catalan language. Garcia is characterized by the red scarf that he wears even when the temperature invites him to wear short sleeves.

Looking ahead to the electoral campaign, Junts' strategy to capture votes relies on a daily rally by Puigdemont from the town of Argelers, about thirty kilometers from the Spanish border, and a fleet of coaches that, from various parts of Catalonia , move groups of supporters to fill the municipal sports center.

What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.

Subscribe

“Argelers has a special meaning,” said a senior Junts official, this Thursday. He alluded to the signs of resistance that identify the town. In the winter of 1939, almost half a million Republicans arrived in the town, and its extensive beach, fleeing Franco's regime. In the south of France they were welcomed, but in deplorable conditions. Beyond the anti-fascist legacy, Junts claims the south of France as a friendly space, a supposed sentimental continuation of Catalonia. In the last French presidential elections, in April 2022, the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, won in Argelers with 55% of the votes over Emmanuel Macron.

In the catalog of symbols of the Catalan independence movement, the names of Elna, Perpignan and Prada de Conflent are associated with the illegal referendum of October 1, 2017 and the warehouses that, in those towns, served to safeguard ballot boxes and ballots in the previous days. It was also in the vicinity of Prada de Conflent where the majority of members of the Catalan Government met on the night of October 27, 2017, after the unilateral declaration of independence in the Parliament. That getaway was the prelude to Puigdemont's departure to Belgium a few days later. A trip from which, according to him, he has now embarked on his way back.

The last days of Waterloo

SILVIA AYUSO

Carles Puigdemont has closed the door of his house in Waterloo, on the outskirts of Brussels, but has not yet handed over the keys. The Catalan and European flags continue to fly next to the brick house, at the entrance of which the plaque also continues to be attached that informs curious people who approach – considerably less than a few years ago – that it is the “House of the Republic.” Catalan.” A man who guards the house, which for the last six and a half years has become the symbol of the former president's escape - "exile" in the independence story - assures: “Everything remains the same.” At least for the moment. 

The chalet, located in a boring residential neighborhood of this town famous because it was where Napoleon's final defeat occurred, will continue to be used as a residence by Puigdemont when he is forced to go to the Belgian capital for work, since he is still an MEP. Until further notice, it will also continue to be the headquarters of its self-proclaimed Consell de la República, a kind of government parallel to the official one of the Generalitat. His website has not even updated its presentation, where it describes it as “the official residence in exile of the 130th president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont.”

“The House of the Republic is not closed,” Puigdemont himself confirmed this week in the European Parliament in Brussels, who returned from the south of France to participate in the penultimate plenary session of the European Parliament. Everything has happened so quickly, he acknowledged regarding the call for early elections in Catalonia, that his plans have been rushed. Although he is now settled in the south of France, much closer to the Spanish border, his official residence on the outskirts of Brussels continues to function. “I will fulfill my mandate as an MEP until the last day (…) I plan to go to the last plenary session in Strasbourg and fulfill my obligations,” he also said this week. The final move will remain, he indicated, for “after the elections.” Although he assures that he does not have a plan b after the elections, Waterloo, for the moment, will continue to wait for him.

_