Esquerra’s main ideological foundations

Founded in 1931, Esquerra Republicana is the oldest active political organization in Catalonia and its main objective is the achievement of a fairer and more solidary society, free of inequalities between people and territories. We consider that the best way to achieve this is by building an independent state for the Catalan nation as part of Europe.

Esquerra Republicana is a non-dogmatic republican, democratic left-wing party centred on the defence of pluralism, human rights and the rights of people and the environment.

Esquerra Republicana is Catalonia’s major left-wing national party and has always been independent of political forces from outside the Catalan nation.

Social progress

From an economic and social viewpoint, Esquerra Republicana bases its ideology and political action on defending the interests of the productive sectors and popular classes. Workers, liberal professionals, the self-employed, small and medium-sized companies, farmers, fishermen, etc. are all the basis of the productive economy so intrinsic to a country’s development.

Esquerra Republicana cares for the productive economy, respecting the individual and collective fruit of labour. Meanwhile, the speculative and financial economy must be controlled by the State so they might remain at the service of the productive economy.

it is necessary to maintain the welfare state and to defend the social progess achieved in the 20th century. The welfare state cannot be limited to assistentialism and to managing capitalism, but must also contribute to distributing wealth. The public sector must assume the essential public services in order to offset the social inequalities and to guarantee the operation of the economy at the service of most of the people .

Esquerra Republicana also defends a change in the model of production and consumption that respects the planet’s ecological limits and is acceptable to all communities living here. Efficiency in the use of energy and natural resources, reduction of waste and the preservation of biodiversity are the basic goals in the area of sustainable development policy.

Republicanism

Esquerra Republicana defends the republican form of government because it is the best guarantee for the exercise of democracy and legitimate power. Democratic quality and participatory democracy form an intrinsic part of republican values.

Esquerra Republicana understands democracy as the permanent commitment to intensify the participation of the citizens in collective decision-making. It is therefore necessary to transform the present representative democracy into a democracy that also has mechanisms for direct participation. The exercise of democracy from the local level is inherent in such goals.

Despite the theoretical recognition of individual rights, broad sectors of society find themselves discriminated against for reasons of gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, illness, language, culture, ethnic group, opinion, religion, nationality or for other reasons. It is therefore necessary to go further in defending the rights of all people against any form of prejudice. Only from equal opportunities for one and all and non-discrimination can a true democracy be built.

Independence

Esquerra Republicana proposes the creation of an independent state for the Catalan nation as part of Europe and through the peaceful and democratic exercise of the right to self-determination.

The creation of a state is a necessary tool for maximum economic well-being and social justice for the majority of the people. In this sense, the tax imbalance between the Catalan nation and the Spanish state and the fact that it is impossible to access the resources produced by the citizens of the Catalan Lands prevent these objectives from being achieved.

The Catalan nation is made up of different political entities whose historical and social nature, with their own institutions and states of awareness, have meant that they develop at different tempos. Just as Esquerra Republicana proposes the right of the people of Catalonia to decide to form an independent republic, it also proposes the application of the right to decide for Northern Catalonia and each of the Balearic Islands regarding their adhesion to the future Republic of Catalonia. Esquerra Republicana also defends the creation of a Valencian state that would end up federating with the other territories in order to form a federal-type republic (Northern Catalonia in France, the Valencian Countryand Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera).

Faithful to its republican tradition, Esquerra Republicana conceives the Catalan nation as a civic space which bases its bonds on its peoples’ will and identities, and on the project of a shared future. Therefore, in the case of Catalonia, all those living in Catalonia and who want to be Catalans are considered Catalan, regardless of their place of birth, the language they speak, their family background, ethnic group or religion.