Junts and Lluís Llach, a desperate exchange of favors

There has always been speculation about the closeness between Assemblea Nacional Catalana and Junts. However, it had never been shown as clearly as in recent days.

Carles Puigdemont's party has come out in defense of ANC after their failure in the protest against King Felipe VI in Montserrat. In return, the officialist sector of ANC, led by Lluís Llach, has imposed a statutory change that prevents the organization from becoming a political party.

This way, Waterloo and ANC join forces to protect their interests at a very delicate moment. Carles Puigdemont's party is trapped in PSOE's crisis while they are sinking in the polls, both in Madrid and Catalonia. Meanwhile, ANC is experiencing its internal fracture while losing social strength unstoppably.

Junts rescues ANC from irrelevance

Junts has rescued ANC from social irrelevance this week, using Parliament as a loudspeaker to hide the Montserrat fiasco.

ANC's call once again failed, with barely a hundred people attending. Even so, the separatist organization has turned things around by denouncing alleged police violence and considering it a victory to have made the monarch enter through the back door.

Despite the obvious failure, the separatist parties (Junts, ERC, and CUP) have invited Lluís Llach to Parliament this week to demand the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon. The most vehement in the denunciation has been, of course, Junts. They accuse the Interior Ministry of assaults on protesters and of having put the life of one of them, who suffered a heart attack, at risk.

Minister Parlon reproached deputy Francesc de Dalmases for having tried to break the police cordon. He replied tearfully and with the usual proclamations such as "Catalans don't have a king."

With this show in Parliament, Junts managed to give a platform to an event that gathered a hundred people and that arouses zero interest in Catalonia. They also saved Lluís Llach from a new embarrassment, as he went from failure to demanding the minister's resignation.

It's clear that Puigdemont wants to keep ANC close, or rather, the officialist sector of ANC.

ANC returns the favor to Junts

However, this support from Junts isn't free, and ANC responds by shielding Junts's political space with a statutory reform.

The officialist sector led by Lluís Llach promoted a reform of the statutes to block critics who aspired to turn ANC into an electoral list. This posed a direct threat to the separatist parties. In fact, the leader of this faction, Josep Costa, has never hidden his intention to challenge the monopoly of these parties - among them Junts.

The civic list would have further fragmented the political space and would have harmed Junts, which shares political affinity and therefore electorate with ANC. In the midst of a dispute with Aliança Catalana, the civic list would have meant even more wear and tear for a declining Puigdemont.

It's true that the reform was submitted to an online vote for members. However, critics have accused the leadership of having broken neutrality by blatantly campaigning for the "Yes" for an entire month. Mission accomplished, the reform has gone ahead.

All these moves prove that separatist parties and organizations are in full disintegration, and now they need each other more than ever. Junts's space, which includes ANC and Consell de la República, is especially affected. Now it's time to exchange favors desperately, even if that means risking ridicule.