Spain: in Catalonia, the big day for Salvador Illa… and Carles Puigdemont

The Catalan Parliament must elect a socialist as president of the Catalan executive on Thursday. ;égion, a vote which could well be overshadowed by the return from exile announced of the independence leader Carles Puigdemont, bringing with him his share of uncertainties.

After months of negotiations since the May elections that saw the Socialists overtake Carles Puigdemont's party, but without obtaining an absolute majority, the wealthy region in the northeast of Spain should finally see Salvador Illa accede to the head of the Generalitat, the regional government.

And it was about time: if no president is elected by August 26, a new election should be called in Catalonia.

But on Thursday, all eyes should be on Carles Puigdemont: after seven years in exile, the independence leader, who fled Spain to escape prosecution after the region's failed secession attempt in 2017, announced his return.

Exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont during a rally in Amélie-les-Bains, southern France, on July 27, 2024 © AFP – IDRISS BIGOU-GILLES

His party, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), even called a “welcome demonstration” for the former president of the Generalitat near the Parliament, in which the separatists of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), members of the coalition that will support Salvador Illa, announced that they would participate.

“In normal democratic conditions, it would be useless for a deputy like me to announce his intention to attend the session, it would not matter,” Carles Puigdemont said in a video posted on X on Wednesday, assuring that he had “begun his journey back from exile.”

Still targeted by an arrest warrant despite the amnesty law negotiated by Pedro Sanchez in exchange for Junts' support for his government, Carles Puigdemont could go straight to prison as soon as he sets foot in Spain.

– “Putschist” –

Heavily criticized by the opposition, this amnesty law is at the heart of multiple legal debates and, on July 1, the Supreme Court ruled that it did not apply than some of the crimes attributed to the independence leader — who again denounced on Wednesday “the rebellious attitude of certain judges of the Supreme Court”.

The Parliament of Catalonia to Barcelona, ​​August 7, 2024 © AFP – MANAURE QUINTERO

The consequences of the return of Carles Puigdemont — whom the far-right party Vox, calling him a “putschist”, has promised to wait for “at the door of Parliament” — remain unclear, but they could alter the investiture process of Salvador Illa, in particular if he were arrested and placed in provisional detention.

The secretary general of Junts per Catalunya Jordi Turull announced that he would request the suspension of the investiture session in this case.

Far from these considerations, Salvador Illa has focused in recent days on defending the agreement that should make him the first president of the Catalan executive not to come from the ranks of a nationalist party since 2010.

Concluded with ERC and a small far-left party, this agreement has already attracted virulent criticism.

To secure the support of ERC, the socialists had to put in the balance a promise long awaited by the independentists: total control of taxes collected in the region, similar to what is already happening in the Basque Country.

The measure, which still needs to be approved by Parliament in Madrid, is already in the sights of the opposition, but also of certain figures in the Socialist Party, such as Alfonso Guerra, former right-hand man of Felipe Gonzalez, who has castigated a “path towards a federal system and towards the independence of Catalonia”.

“For some, it's a coup d'état, another one, I don't know how many coups d'état we've already done, how many times we've destroyed Spain,” Pedro Sanchez joked. “But today, Spain and Catalonia are stronger and more united,” he boasted.

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