Junts 2.0, Carles Puigdemont's Latest Failed Experiment

The collective resignation of a group of Junts activists has highlighted the severe internal crisis that Carles Puigdemont's party is going through. They announce they are leaving due to the lack of transparency and internal democracy within the organization. They accuse the leadership of sidelining those who criticize their strategy of agreements with PSOE to continue placing their allies and ensuring that nothing changes.

The JuntsxJunts statement is harsh and marks a turning point in the decline that Puigdemont and his project have been experiencing for some time.

However, it is not surprising. It is the same complaint that internal factions of the party have been making for some time, which already affected Puigdemont in the Consell de la República during his negotiations with PSOE.

It was in August 2023, in the midst of negotiations for Pedro Sánchez's investiture, when Puigdemont proposed to abolish the legislative body of the Consell. Although he cited organizational reasons, it was clearly an attempt to avoid internal criticism and pave the way for agreements with the socialists. Members of the entity accused Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín of having perpetrated an authoritarian coup.

Despite the differences, Puigdemont also maneuvered to gain absolute control of Junts at the Calella Congress last October. Only one list was presented, his own, and all internal mechanisms were twisted to prevent any hint of dissent. Notably, the leftist faction and other local sections reported pressures and irregularities from the Puigdemontist core.

The Fiction of the Calella Congress

The split now driven by grassroots affiliates poses a serious challenge for Puigdemont and his attempt to reunify the independence movement under his leadership.

The October congress was supposed to be the cornerstone of this new project, but it could end up being the catalyst for its decline. It is being shown that it was nothing more than an attempt to falsely close the internal crisis, imposing unity while maintaining a fictitious diversity of factions.

But the signatories of the statement also point out the incompatibility of the current Junts project with the independence aspirations of its base. Despite the leadership, with Puigdemont at the helm, continuing to appeal to the spirit of October 1st, their own base no longer believes them. And the split now materialized threatens to increase the hemorrhage of departures and defections to Aliança Catalana.

The feeling is that the strategy of agreements in Madrid could end up dragging Junts down the same path as ERC. This would clearly benefit Sílvia Orriols, whose growth is precisely fueled by the failure of the process and the frustration it leaves behind.

In any case, this latest setback underpins yet another failure of Puigdemont, who has not recovered since the failed proclamation of independence on October 27, 2017.

Failed Experiments to Regain Power

Carles Puigdemont's first failed experiment was precisely that of October 1st. If the Procés had been an attempt by the convergent elite to regain their power after the social crisis of 2008-2012, October 1st was supposed to be the culmination of that process. After Artur Mas stepped aside, Puigdemont seemed like the ideal messianic leader to lead the masses to the realization of the dream of national freedom.

The suspension of independence revealed that it had all been a great scam and opened a new stage of rivalry among the processist elite. The union of ERC and Junts under Puigdemont's leadership blew up. The processist leaders, including Puigdemont, maintained their prestige for a certain time thanks to the epic of exile and prison.

But Carles Puigdemont had lost unity, and after ERC's agreements with PSOE he tried to redeem himself as the legitimate president of October 1st. The second failed experiment was the Consell de la República, with which he tried to regroup those ousted from ERC. The crisis of entities like the ANC and the coup perpetrated by Puigdemont and Comín accelerated the avalanche of departures from the Consell.

The electoral crisis of Junts and the failure of the Consell led him to devise a new experiment. Transform the party into a great movement that would bring together all the independence movement under his leadership.

The first test was the Catalan elections in May 2024, in which Junts ran with the Puigdemont x Catalunya brand.

Junts 2.0 Doesn't Work Either

After losing the head-to-head against Salvador Illa, he accelerated the national congress to complete the reunification of the party and relaunch his project. They sold the congress as the beginning of a new movement that was supposed to bring together all the sensitivities of the independence movement. In reality, it was a maneuver by Carles Puigdemont and his allies to end the internal factions that had weakened the party.

In that congress, the borrasistas were sidelined but the presence of factions like the leftist one was maintained to give a fiction of transversality.

In reality, the decisions are still made by Carles Puigdemont, who nevertheless has more and more internal detractors. Some because they think he is sacrificing the spirit of October 1st, others because they believe his erratic strategy is leading the space toward disaster.

The split now announced by a group of activists points to the failure of Junts 2.0, yet another attempt by Puigdemont to gain absolute control of the independence movement. Continuing to support Pedro Sánchez will allow him to maintain seats and perks in Madrid. But the consequences in Catalonia could end up being terrible and are already starting to be felt.