VIDEO | Junts Now Admits That Immigration Is Collapsing the System in Catalonia

Junts has made a clear shift to the right in security and immigration in recent months to prevent the loss of votes to Aliança Catalana. But they have done so with the brakes on precisely to differentiate themselves from Aliança Catalana. This way, they avoid being labeled as far-right and can continue to point to Aliança Catalana as far-right.

However, Junts's strategy is a double-edged sword that condemns Puigdemont's party to permanent ambiguity and loss of credibility. They are increasingly falling into contradiction, as happened this Friday to Salvador Vergés.

The Junts deputy was interviewed on El Cafè d'Idees de TVE. In his attempt to harden his right-wing profile, he ended up saying what his party had avoided acknowledging until now. That immigrants are overwhelming services like healthcare.

Immigrants and the System Collapse

Junts has systematically labeled Aliança Catalana as far-right for saying that mass immigration causes an imbalance in public services. Today, Deputy Salvador Vergés said that "not having the resources to manage immigration causes immigration to end up overwhelming the service."

The deputy wanted to highlight his party's agreement for the transfer of immigration competencies. But in doing so, he fell into the trap of admitting what Sílvia Orriols has been saying for a long time and for which she has been stigmatized.

For example, he criticized that "municipalities have the obligation to register without having the necessary resources to manage that immigration." Another of the taboos for which the subsidized press led a lynching against Orriols, supported by the Generalitat and the Síndic de Greuges. His words have caused all kinds of reactions.

Many of them precisely recalling that what Junts is now saying is what Aliança Catalana has put forward. Junts finds it increasingly difficult to justify their arguments without risking being lumped together.

Junts, Prisoner of Its Own Strategy

Does Junts really believe what Deputy Vergés now acknowledges, or is it pure electoral strategy? Is this what Junts truly thinks and doesn't dare to say for fear of what others will say? Is Junts just another woke party or a victim of its own complexes?

These are questions that help understand the ambiguity in which Carles Puigdemont's party is currently navigating. A party where its leader tweets compulsively with Donald Trump or Marine Le Pen and has deputies like Aurora Madaula and Agustí Colomines in its ranks. But at the same time, it copies Sílvia Orriols's discourse and uses immigration to gain votes.

Sílvia Orriols once said that half of Catalonia 'orrioleja' in the dining room at home. It is evident that Junts is increasingly 'orrioleando'. Especially considering yesterday's CEO survey confirming that Orriols is eating their lunch.