Duran CiU leaves the secretariat on the eve of the meeting between … – The Confidential

Josep Antoni Duran Lleida has confirmed what we announced over a month ago, after taking a period of reflection, decided leave his post as Secretary General of CiU . Far from being a break or a goodbye, Duran holds the Presidency of Unio and will remain spokesman CiU in Congress. Yes, your right decision at this time, when the long-awaited appointment is brewing between the Prime Minister and the Government-is interpreted as an attempt to distance the president , which is not has gone down well in converging circles.

The decision has been made effective this Monday Unio standing and succeed to the secretariat of the CiU Minister Ramón Espadaler . Subsequently, the resignation will become official on the Executive of the Federation of CiU in the presence of Artur Mas and expresident Jordi Pujol. “We have not always agreed on everything, but we have always ended up agreeing on everything,” he Mas said in a joint press conference with Duran and Espadaler.

Duran had barruntando the thought since the dismal election results were known 25-M, when ERC first exceeded the number of votes to CiU. Unio President understands that these findings were a new sign of a drift that began when Artur Mas decided to call early elections and 12 deputies left the flap. Instead of rectifying the president fleeing intensified and accelerated forward steps in their sovereignty derives, to which Duran has not hesitated to express publicly their discrepancy. electoral disaster for CiU 25-M only confirmed the worst fears of Duran. A “period of reflection ‘which culminates on Monday is then opened.

Although the veteran politician seeks to decouple its decision to the proximity to the upcoming meeting between Mas and the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy , the fact is that most analysts do not hesitate to relate the two events since, according insists a source of Convergence, “Duran does not stitch Wireless. Y intends pressure Mas while disassociating itself from the interview if things such as paints, goes wrong. “

According El Periódico de Catalunya ,” Christian Democrat leader said and repeated in public that their commitment to consultation sovereignty is firm, but private not hide their differences with a strategy that, in his view, many abocará to frustration and Catalan CiU, an electoral debacle. ” He has also repeatedly criticized what he considers “immobility” of Rajoy. In meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria , has criticized the ‘tancredismo’ tenant of Moncloa missed “numerous Catalan ERC in arms.”

Last January, Duran already left the presidency of the bilateral commission State-Generalitat , which was practically dead since 2012. Spite of leaving a position he has held for 13, keep the presidency of Unio and, more significantly, the spokesperson of CiU in Congress of Deputies.

Convergence Rods with

Duran announced its decision on June 8, and permanent secretariat of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) then met in an extraordinary way to gauge the extent of the open crisis. The reason adduced Duran were continuing criticism of its management, both from the core of CDC as partners from ERC, which help keep the CiU government in minority. The straw that broke the camel were a statement of the spokesman of the Catalan government, Francesc Homs , in Geneva, where he alluded to the abdication of the King as a way to keep “their enterprises “(as in French) of the Royal Family. He referred to “the company” Crown, but his translation as “business” of the Bourbons was a torpedo in the water line of the Royal House . Duran, however, never requested a correction.

The decision of the permanent secretariat of the CDC was cracking Duran apply warm cloths on the wound and let the storm abated. “We respect and value the Unio colleagues with whom we walked together to tackling this difficult period of crisis and process,” said Deputy Secretary General Institutional Coordination, Lluís Corominas . And the secretary of Josep Rull , stressed that the two parties “are totally committed to the two significant challenges we face: overcoming the crisis and that the process goes well.”

Recovering the centrality

Francesc Homs . (Efe)

From Unio is known that in case of a breakup and solo tackle elections, the Democrat formation may suffer an internal cleavage of a independence small sector. But they are also aware that can collect a percentage of non-independence nationalist electorate that disagrees with the radical derived from Convergència . “The centrality is what has given us helpful for decades. As we have abandoned the centrality and we veered towards the independence, we have not stopped losing votes: of the 62 deputies who had in 2010, had 50 in 2012 and now polls put us in a range of 34 to 36 it is. True, part of that electorate has gone to ERC, but another percentage that has been orphaned and have to recover, “he told Confidential a member of the Unio address.

“In the latest survey, our electorate approves Artur Mas and then the best reviews is Oriol Junqueras, CKD, while Duran sinks” , then warned a member of the hard core of Convergence. Democrats (50 CiU deputies, 14 are of Unio) believe that their electoral chances, going solo to an election, ranging from 7 to 12 seats, which would give them the key to the governance of the Generalitat. From Convergència prefer not to comment on the issue of the allocation of seats for “no hurt feelings.”

But while all forecasts are no more than political fiction (ever the two formations have been presented separately about elections), the efforts of nationalists mend fences with Duran Lleida to prevent espantá seem to have failed. Although the fact that Duran keeps as spokesman for CiU in Congress seem to remember it has always been an expert in swimming … and eat.