Strategic Shift Amid Rising Polls

Sílvia Orriols, leader of the far-right pro-independence party Aliança Catalana, is distancing her movement from Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), despite earlier overtures between the two parties. The move comes as Orriols seeks to preserve her party’s improving electoral prospects, with recent polls suggesting Aliança could win up to 20 seats in a future Catalan parliamentary election. Orriols’s party has maintained informal communication channels with AfD since 2024, when Pau Nadal, Aliança’s international representative, met with AfD MEP Siegbert Droese at the German party’s request. AfD’s rising influence in Europe, backed by figures such as US Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, initially made it an attractive ally.

Despite the contact, Aliança now insists the relationship is limited. Party sources told El Confidencial that Nadal no longer forms part of Orriols’s inner decision-making circle, which consists of just five officials. They stressed that those managing foreign contacts are not part of the party’s leadership and do not speak on its behalf. While Aliança issued a courtesy message congratulating AfD on its recent victory in Saxony-Anhalt, it clarified that the two parties share little in common ideologically. Unlike AfD, Aliança supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage, positions incompatible with the German party’s platform. "We have few things in common," party sources said, noting that AfD only aligns partially with Aliança on select issues.

The strategy is to keep distance from AfD and minimise perceived affinities to protect Orriols’s electoral momentum.

Business Outreach and Political Positioning

This recalibration coincides with Orriols’s first major engagement with the Catalan business community, hosted by law firm Cuatrecasas in Barcelona before an audience of around 250 business figures. She was introduced as mayor of Ripoll and a rising political force in Catalonia. The event marked a symbolic lifting of the cordon sanitaire around Orriols, though Aliança’s lack of influence on key issues like Catalonia’s financing model and its decision not to contest Spanish general elections have limited business sector urgency in engaging further. Aliança sources confirm they have not requested additional meetings but remain open to invitations. Orriols continues to advocate for Catalan independence based on historical rights, maintaining that it would not require violence. She also upholds the controversial 'replacement theory', opposes mass immigration regularisations, and frames immigration policy as a core component of national preservation.

Reported by elconfidencial.com, en.ara.cat, El Confidencial.