Comuns and CUP representatives have urged Carles Puigdemont to press Junts to change course on housing, immigration and social rights, after the former Catalan president set out plans to return to Catalonia once the amnesty is applied.
The demands matter to residents because housing and immigration are central areas of Catalan and Spanish political debate, while Puigdemont's possible return could affect Junts' direction and its negotiations with other parties. Puigdemont told The Sunday Times that, after nine years abroad, he intends to travel around Catalonia to reconnect with people before deciding his political future.
Comuns and CUP set out demands
Gerardo Pisarello, spokesperson for Comuns, said Puigdemont should ensure Junts does not follow the approach of Aliança Catalana on immigration. He also said Junts should retain what he described as a humanist approach to housing.
Pisarello recalled that Puigdemont had defended housing measures while leading the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government, and accused Junts of failing to support those policies in the Spanish Congress.
Laure Vega, a CUP member of the Catalan Parliament and candidate for Barcelona City Council, said Puigdemont had a discussion to have with his party because Junts' policies had changed, particularly on housing and rights.
“Puigdemont left because of repression. Now he returns, and it is a different Junts. He has a big conversation to have with his party.”
Vega said the CUP had supported Puigdemont's presidency when Junts was prepared to hold the 2017 independence referendum and regulate rents.
Junts says courts must apply the amnesty
Josep Rius, Junts' spokesperson and vice-president, told Comuns and CUP to focus on their own parties. He said Puigdemont should have benefited from the amnesty months ago, but claimed that judicial decisions had delayed its application.
Rius referred to a July ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, saying it supported the application of the amnesty. He said the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court must follow that ruling, while adding that Junts remained cautious because of obstacles it says have been created by the Spanish justice system.
“What President Puigdemont proposed is excellent, and I will not add anything more about his scenarios.”
Rius said Puigdemont would explain his own political plans after any return and after the proposed tour of Catalonia. Juan Fernández, spokesperson for the Partido Popular in Catalonia, said Puigdemont's interview was irrelevant to him.
Reported by elnacional.cat, The Sunday Times, El Nacional.
