A few hours after the announcement of an agreement with the PSC (and PSOE) to appoint Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat – pending approval by the Republican bases – ERC spokesperson Marta Vilalta has defended the pact as a “historic milestone” that will allow us to take steps towards independence.
“Having the economic means prepares us for the leap to independence,” Vilalta said in an interview in the U.S. The mom to Rac1“It puts us on the horizon to be able to commit ourselves to the referendum.”
From ERC announced on monday evening that the agreement reached would lead to Catalonia obtaining a status very similar to that of the Basque and Navarrese councils in fiscal and financial terms, although the details of the pact have not yet emerged. “We hope to have all the small print of the agreement today to send it to the armed forces,” he explained.
When asked if they had already obtained the support of all the groups necessary to reform the Organic Law on the Financing of the Autonomous Communities (LOFCA), a necessary amendment to implement the announced changes, Vilalta replied that “they will work to build the majorities” necessary to advance the reform in the Congress of Deputies.
“It is clear that in Catalonia a relevant actor is the Junts, which we invite to join the legislative changes,” continued the ERC spokesman. “It is a demand that we have shared for many years,” he added, based on the support of Puigdemont’s party for the legislative reform in the Lower House.
The Republican spokesman has assured that the pact “fits perfectly within the rules of the game” and has wondered whether the Constitutional Court could ultimately overturn it. “We are convinced that we can implement it,” he added.
Vilalta also expressed confidence that the former president of the party and former vice-president of the Generalitat, Oriol Junqueras, “like the rest of the armed forces” will appreciate the agreement between the Republicans and the Socialists in exchange for Illa's investiture. “We hope that, because of the figure he has within republicanism, he can join this agreement, because it is a good agreement for Catalonia.”