ERC demands that Sánchez comply with the investiture agreement and negotiate the official status of Catalan in the EU

The ERC candidate for the European elections on June 9, Diana Riba, has demanded that the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, put “the charter of the official status of Catalan” in the negotiations to the senior positions of the European Union that will open from Sunday. “We have a window of opportunity,” he said in a press conference to the ACN in which he warned that it is “time to convince the member states” to comply with the commitments of Sánchez’s investiture agreement. Regarding his proposal to promote a clarity law in the EU that establishes the conditions for referendums, Riba admitted that processing it in Brussels can be “long”, but defended promoting it to create “a common framework” for self-determination.

“If we never start it, it will never come,” said Riba, that vindicates the initiative “beyond what is done in Madrid” to negotiate an agreed referendum. In view of the constitution of the Parliament of Catalonia on June 10, Riba has regretted the resolution of the Spanish Constitutional Court that prohibits the telematic vote of the Junts deputy Lluís Puig: “I would have liked to receive a letter from Sánchez about lawfare.”

On the other hand, ERC has also emphasized this Thursday that it is willing to preside over the Parliament. The Republican spokesperson, Raquel Sans, assured this Thursday that Esquerra wants to “always” choose to lead all institutions, including the presidential chair of the chamber. In an interview on Radio4-RTVE, Sans insisted however in which the “most important” thing is to establish an “Anti-repressive Table” that allows exiles to vote and exercise their political rights. The ERC spokesperson did not go into evaluating names and assured that the 20 deputies of the group could opt to preside over the chamber. She has also asked Junts if they want to invest Carles Puigdemont or opt for a unitary list in the event of a repeat election: “What are we left with? “Both things cannot be,” she stated.

Sans has made it clear that ERC is “willing” to preside over the Parliament again. The last Republican president was Roger Torrent, now acting Business Councilor. The Esquerra spokesperson has insisted, however, that for the party the “most important thing” is to establish an “Anti-repressive Table” that defends the rights of deputies in exile, that guarantees their votes, as well as that in the chamber they can talk about “everything”.