CUP completes its strategic shift to bounce back in the 2027 local elections

CUP suffered the Catalan left and separatist movement's debacle with particular harshness in the last electoral cycle. It lost territorial strength, saw its weight in Parliament reduced, and was left out of Congress. This led the organization to launch a process of refoundation (Garbí) that culminated in a pragmatic shift.

Since then, CUP has found itself trapped in a contradiction. On one hand, there is the need to radicalize in response to the rise of Aliança Catalana and street mobilization. On the other hand, there is the institutional retreat around the progressive bloc that orbits around PSC.

To redefine its priorities and relaunch its project, the separatist left held an event next weekend in Capellades. CUP unveiled a new corporate image and a campaign focused on the 2027 municipal elections.

The anti-capitalists know there's no time to lose since other parties like Aliança Catalana and Junts have already started the race toward the municipal elections. These will be key elections, as they'll serve as a prelude to the Catalan elections in 2028. They'll be used to measure the balance of power in a political scenario—Catalonia's—that is in full transformation.

Strategic and discursive shift

CUP wants to complete its pragmatic shift, leaving behind the burden of the years of the Procés and looking to the future with new hopes. The "cupaires" are aware that the current context is adverse for them. That's why they want to regain lost ground with a new rhetoric that will allow them to win over a more cross-cutting electorate.

The key is to redirect all their discourse toward material conditions, that is, the economy. They want to focus on day-to-day difficulties and, from there, address other issues such as feminism, racism, or language. At the same time, they want to combat the far-right's discourse centered on security and immigration.

Meanwhile, CUP wants to consolidate the pragmatic shift that replaces a maximalist attitude with a more constructive approach. The event next weekend featured Non Casadevall and Su Moreno, the two visible faces of the renewal represented by the Garbí Process. They therefore insist on this new image of a mature and useful party, more open and less sectarian.

Radical in the streets, pragmatic in Parliament

CUP has begun to put this pragmatic shift into practice from Parliament. The party has been sidelining Laia Estrada to give more prominence to Laure Vega, who leads a faction in favor of reaching an understanding with PSC.

This led to the major housing agreement that CUP signed together with PSC, ERC, and Comuns. In recent weeks, there has also been clear harmony among the left-wing parties in voting on motions in Parliament. Many are already talking about the "cuatripartito" of the Govern, instead of the "tripartito."

This has increased CUP's capacity for influence, allowing it to break out of isolation. Although they still have a lot of work to do. Polls remain unfavorable in a generalized context of the left's collapse.

Another idea that has emerged at the Capellades meeting is to use conflict as a way to grow. This means that, while they make deals with the "most right-wing and Spanish nationalist PSC in history," they need to gain strength in the streets. It's expected that in the coming months, the war on the left to control movements like the housing movement will intensify.

In addition, CUP wants to make the fight against the far right a driving force to recover in the 2027 municipal elections. Although the attacks and municipal cordons aren't working. In that sense, they also need to keep the tension without going overboard.