Puigdemont begins mandate by ignoring King and Constitution

President of the Generalitat takes office with promise to make break with Spain with full guarantees

JOAN RUSIÑOL / ORIOL MARCH / NÚRIA ORRIOLS Barcelona
3 min
Carles Puigdemont va saludar les persones que es van congregar a la plaça Sant Jaume durant el seu acte de presa de possessió.

Deep determination, and correctness in the formalities. Carles Puigdemont, the 130th President of the Generalitat, began his mandate as he promised in his investiture speech on Sunday in Parliament: guaranteeing that this term will see a transition towards a Catalan Republic, but without forgetting that Catalan society is plural. The first gesture, loaded with significance, took place yesterday evening after 7pm, in the Sant Jordi Hall of the presidential palace. Carme Forcadell, President of the Parliament, asked him: "Do you promise to comply loyally with the obligations of the office of President of the Generalitat, remaining true to the will of the people of Catalonia as represented by the Parliament?" There was no reference to the Spanish Constitution or to King Felipe VI, who on Monday snubbed Forcadell. As at the inauguration of Artur Mas in 2012, a black curtain covered the portrait of the Spanish monarch.

The chosen oath means a significant change from what had been done up to now. Puigdemont had already warned on Sunday that the next 18 months are for "pre-independence". Hours before the event, the departments of the presidency in the Government and in Parliament had finalized the draft text, which included the mention of the "obligations of the office" and also, implicitly, that which is established by the Catalan Statute and the Spanish Constitution. Nevertheless, the somber faces of Jorge Fernández Díaz, Spanish Minister of the Interior, and María de los Llanos de Luna, the central government's representative in Catalonia, showed the discomfort that this change caused in Madrid. The Spanish Justice Department will analyze today whether there is a basis for taking legal action. Speaking for 8TV, Forcadell assured that "there are no regulations governing" the inauguration of the Catalan President. One of the images of yesterday's event was of the conversations held, before and after the ceremony, between Oriol Junqueras and Marta Rovira, leaders of ERC, and Fernández Díaz and Llanos de Luna.

Perhaps Puigdemont was making a preemptive move when he warned that being loyal to the people of Catalonia means being in "a virtuous circle of inarguable democratic legitimacy". More than likely, the Government will return to this question in the coming months when there are predictable institutional clashes with Spanish institutions regarding the independence process, which now begins to gain momentum again. Yesterday, the new president was accompanied by the majority of faces who will make up the cabinet, beginning with three key figures: Junqueras, who will be Vice-President, Neus Munté, and Raül Romeva.

Legal assurances

The determination to follow the path marked by Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) and the CUP goes along with, according to the new President and former mayor of Girona, an insistence on assuring that things are not done "in just any old way", but always with legal assurances. Among those attending the event were prominent figures from the Catalan economic and business community-- from representatives of La Caixa to union leaders-- as well as the principal politicians of the nation, such as Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and former Catalan presidents Pasqual Maragall and José Montilla. Jordi Pujol, of course, was not in attendance.

The silk glove in the formalities did not spare, however, criticisms aimed at the Spanish government. Puigdemont decried that Catalans are being "choked and humiliated financially", "neglected in investments", and "scorned" in everything related to identity and language. To address this, the President made it clear that what is needed are the tools of a state. Theoretically, these would have to be created in the next eighteen months.

The last three months of tough negotiations on independence, which were saved with a last-minute agreement, showed the need for increasing the number of people in favor of independence if the project is to be concluded successfully. Puigdemont argued that it is necessary to "explain and involve [in the project] more and better". In fact, one of the challenges of the new government will be to find a shared narrative that binds together an administration comprising people from diverse political backgrounds and supported by the CUP in Parliament.

The alternative left pushed the hardest for someone other than Artur Mas to lead the Generalitat. The new ex-President received a resounding ovation when he sent a direct message to the Moncloa and the royal family: "I do appreciate the services rendered by everyone". The language used in the Spanish government’s decree formally acknowledging the end of the CDC leader’s term in office avoided the usual formula of thanks in a symbolic end of an icy relationship with Spain. "Sadness" was the widespread feeling among the ex-president's collaborators yesterday. It was the end of a time and the beginning of a new one unprecedented in the history of the nation.

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