Esquerra Republicana’s members endorse the negotiation strategy and the roadmap to attain the Catalan Republic with over 97% of the votes.

“With a full sense of pride in contemplating your history, with all the love for everyone in this country, you must stride out every day and win. We were born to win. We will achieve independence, social justice, a proud nation to claim all its rights.” With these words, the president of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras closed the 2022 National Conference held over the weekend at La Farga de L’Hospitalet Conference Centre. “If we are able to convey to our society that their rights and their collective good will be much better assured by a republic, in a Catalonia that wants to be independent, as a whole nation, our victory is certain,” he asserted.

“Sometimes it seems that some forget that there is a political conflict over self-determination and amnesty,” said Mr Junqueras, “and it seems that some forget that the country is made up of a broad diversity of people with differing beliefs and immense day-to-day problems,” he added. “We can’t forget that and we don’t want to forget it,” he said. This bond is essential to our political project.”

“There will end up being negotiations”

Before a packed auditorium with over 1,200 members attending, Mr Junqueras reiterated that the construction of the Catalan republic is “inseparable” from human rights, the fight against repression, amnesty, democracy and the democratic will to juxtapose our arguments in negotiations.” Thus, he warned that when these rights are defended before the international community, “the foundations of independence are also being laid.”

The president of Esquerra Republicana assured that “There is no doubt there will end up being negotiations”, even if it is only “to distribute the assets and liabilities between the new nascent Republic and the Kingdom of Spain.” And thus, “when the time comes, the more prepared we are and the more there are to accompany us at home and abroad, the better.” He added that “the challenge we face now is easier than the challenge that many of those who came before had to face, so we have no right not to reach the end of our nation’s path to freedom.”

Marta Vilalta: “Amnesty and self-determination are indispensable”

Before Mr Junqueras spoke, Esquerra’s Deputy Secretary General and spokeswoman Marta Vilalta called out for amnesty and self-determination as central pivots on the horizon of a future Catalan Republic. Ms Vilalta vindicated “the nation’s great consensus,” setting this as the bedrock for the cause, rallying round the flag of republicanism and a “feminist, social, democratic and green” Esquerra Republicana, calling to strengthen its municipal majorities, “the basis from which we must also build the future Catalan Republic.”

There is no doubt there will end up being negotiations. When the time comes, the more prepared we are and the more there are to accompany us at home and abroad, the better

Oriol Junqueras President of Esquerra Republicana

The Republican spokeswoman defended the path of negotiation as the best way to confront the Spanish state democratically. “And make no mistake: negotiation is not surrender. If we have got this far, it is to win,” she said, and warned that “We will not give up on any democratic instrument that will allow us to decide on our collective future and attain the Catalan Republic, from civil disobedience to a democratic surge so as to make possible the right to self-determination.”

The members endorse negotiation by the pro-independence movement

The manifesto was finally approved by a very large majority at the National Conference, with 97.24% of the votes. The manifesto included more than 400 contributions from members, presented and debated in twenty sectoral and territorial congresses that outline the country’s priorities and the horizon for the next decade, including the political strategy to achieve independence.

The members have thus endorsed and strengthened our commitment to democratic confrontation at the negotiating table on the pro-independence side, and our commitment to republican policies as the best way to achieve the Catalan Republic, accompanied by the great national consensus and by cross-party mobilizations. Esquerra Republicana thus reaffirms its commitment to pursuing purely republican policies and demonstrating their utility as the best way to build up and strengthen the independence movement.