Esquerra leader Junqueras highlights their shared objectives and assures that “it will be a pleasure to engage every day at the European institutions”

Esquerra Republicana, Basque EH Bildu and Galician BNG have renewed their agreement to stand as a coalition in the European elections on 9 June, together with the Balearic alliance Ara Més joining the unitary candidacy under the denomination Ara Repúbliques.

On Thursday, Esquerra leader Oriol Junqueras, along with Pernando Barrena, the EH Bildu candidate for the European Parliament and a member of the party leadership, Rubén Cela, the head of International Relations of the National Executive of BNG, and Mateu Mates, the coordinator of Ara Més, have together signed the agreement, thus renewing the coalition established five years ago.

The agreement was detailed at an event hosted by Esquerra MEP and candidate Diana Riba. Oriol Junqueras said that “in Europe, we are staking a great deal in terms of international recognition, language rights, social policies and the interests of our farming and industrial communities. When it comes to serving our people, our ambitions are infinite, and we mean to be there with all our possible strengths,” he said.

Diana Riba explained that Ara Repúbliques seeks “to work again for the nations without a state and to achieve their own states, building more just, egalitarian and sustainable societies.”

Ms Riba also highlighted the success of the coalition during the present legislature, including the defence of the Catalan, Galician and Basque languages at the institutions, the passing of a directive against gender-based violence, the approval of European legislation that would protect journalists and activists from lawsuits seeking gag orders, and the constitution of the commission of inquiry into the use of Pegasus spyware, among others.

In sum, Ms Riba concluded that “Ara Repúbliques is standing to continue building a socially just, green and feminist Europe of free nations, able to halt the far right.”

For his part, Pernando Barrena of EH Bildu stated that to deal with the far-right, “opting for Ara Repúbliques on 9 June is a good option as an anti-fascist vote.” Meanwhile, Rubén Cela of the BNG recalled that Ara Repúbliques “continues a historical tradition of over a century of cooperation between Galician, Basque and Catalan sovereigntist organizations.”

Finally, Mateu Mates of Ara Més thanked the other members for having them join the coalition: “it is a pleasure to be part of this ticket and to show that the Balearic independence movement also has a voice.”