CATALONIA -- Junqueras: 'The future will not be decided by a few rich people, but by all of the citizens' - VilaWeb

Junqueras: 'The future will not be decided by a few rich people, but by all of the citizens' - VilaWeb

Oriol Junqueras, the president of the Catalan Republican Left, was
interviewed yesterday on Catalan TV3, as the leader of the opposition.
'It's obvious that the current situation in this country is
unsustainable,' he said. And he continued, 'The best way to resolve this
situation is to use the best possible tools… The best way to do it is
to put the future of the country in the hands of the people of
Catalonia.' With respect to the famous lunch on Saturday between
politicians and business leaders in Fonteta, Junqueras said, 'The future
of the country should not be decided by a politician or by someone with
a lot of money, or by someone who represents someone else with a lot of
money. The decision has to be taken by each and every one of the
citizens. We'll decide the matter by going to vote.'

Opposition

The interview began talking about the role of 'leader of the
opposition': 'I am opposed to everything, and I do it very well. In the
same way that some of the most important countries in Europe don't think
it's a problem that the executive and the opposition collaborate
together, we also think it's a positive thing.'

Junqueras was clear about his position: 'We act as the opposition in
the most responsible way possible. We think it's good do it this way
because the country is going through a very difficult moment.'

He also spoke of his willingness to form part of the executive:
'We've always said that when there was an agreement on the date and the
question for the referendum, that we'd be willing to join the executive.
We continue to be open to the president calling us to talk about it.'

Budget
'We will do everything possible so that
the additional income forecast for the budget is there. But we find
ourselves in a situation in which the whole budget of the Catalan
Government is not decided by us, but by the Spanish government, which
also decides how much we are able to go into debt. In these terrible
circumstances, our responsibility is to make the best budget possible.
But it is a terrible budget, like the current circumstances. But they
are the most social accounts in history, in percentage terms.'

European Elections
'The ERC's goal is to
prioritize the national focus of the Catalan Countries and the
personality of a civic candidacy, and therefore, the incorporation of
independent citizens in the list. And we think it's really important to
have a broad-based list that represents a broad spectrum of the Catalan
socialdemocracy and center-left. We cannot force anyone to form part of a
joint list if they don't want to. There are many who have distanced
themselves. I will defend a clear position with these priorities to the
national council this Saturday. We'll have to see if we are able to
incorporate these independent citizens but for now, we already have
Josep Maria Terricabras as the head of our candidate list with a
specific profile.'

Plan for holding the referendum
'Our plan for
holding the referendum is to trust in democracy; and to plan on being
able to hold the referendum on November 9. You have to recognize that
Rajoy speaks with totally clear pedagogy. We defend the legal current
frameworks for holding a referendum. If they do not allow us to use
those legal frameworks, we will use alternative ones. For example, we
will look to see what the international legal jurisprudence says, which
says that democracy is what defines the legal frameworks and not the
reverse. International law says that it is the exercise of democracy
that signals what is legal.'

'Our roadmap is that the referendum is our best option. I will not
talk about alternatives because I don't want to undermine the
possibility of holding the referendum. We want to do exactly the same
thing that more than half of the current European States have done, who
have chosen their future democratically. With respect to elections, note
that the polls forecast that ERC will win, but we are not interested in
snap elections.'

PSC and confidence in the president
'The
leadership of the PSC are doing everything possible to distance
themselves from the exercise of democracy. We're not asking them to be
in favor of independence, but we are asking that they not oppose the
possibility of a vote. And it's not true that the majority of socialist
are opposed; it is just some leaders who are.'

'I trust the president, I want to trust him and I need to trust him.
And I'll stand firm on that. I do the same with Iniciativa, la CUP and
anyone else necessary. We need the commitment of as many people as
possible in order to exercise democracy.'

International involvement
'The lack of
international involvement will be the dominant trend in the
sovereigntist process until the Catalans have made their decision. Until
we have voted and won, it's obvious that it remains an internal affair
of the Spanish State. What are we if not an autonomous community? The
situation will shift 180° on November 9th. Even the Spanish Government
will open up to negotiating despite the fact that now they now employ
insults and fear-mongering. The best way to counter these attacks is
with democracy.'

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