The ERC crisis over its false flag attacks has had an impact on the fight for the leadership of the party. The latest chapter has been the revelation of messages in internal chats by Marta Rovira in which the general secretary considered, without yet knowing that the denigrating posters of the Maragall family came from her own party, that the attack could serve to “get a few votes”.
The reaction of the still general secretary, who will leave all her posts after the congress in November, has been forceful. In a statement posted on her X account, Rovira has blamed Oriol Junqueras’ candidacy for using the derogatory posters “to claim that they have nothing to do with it and to point to other culprits in the management,” something that, in Rovira’s opinion, “is contradictory to the organic responsibility that some of them held.”
A few hours earlier, the interim leadership of ERC, headed by supporters of Rovira, had already hinted that Junqueras’ team was behind the leak of the messages. “Not everything goes to win,” lamented the Republican spokesperson, Marta Vilalta.
“You can clearly see who uses these methods, who they attack, who they favour and who they are doing it for,” Rovira added in his message on social media, in which he also issued a warning: “I also have screenshots, comments and private conversations that would compromise more than one colleague, but I have sworn not to fall into the temptation of doing the same.”
As he has anticipated Catalonia RadioLast January, Rovira wrote several messages in an internal chat that indicated his knowledge of the party’s parallel structure to attack rivals without signing the actions, known as “campaign B.”
Far from ending in July, the return from vacation has brought new aftershocks to the internal earthquake in ERC due to the derogatory posters about Alzheimer’s and the Maragall family that came from its own ranks. Ernest Maragall He left the party in protest against the internal management of the crisis, Several leaders knew for months that the posters were a false flag attack.
The party did not open proceedings against the former leaders involved, including the former deputy minister of the Government, Sergi Sabrià, until after the newspaper ARA revealed the existence of the false flag attack and a parallel structure of the party dedicated to anonymously denigrating rivals.
“How are we doing in campaign B?” wrote Rovira in an internal chat. The new chapter of the crisis occurs in a context of an internal fight for the leadership of the party that will be decided on November 30 between Junqueras’ list, who aspires to revalidate the position, and that of those close to Rovira, who still do not have a leader.
In short, the new controversy only adds fuel to a fire that has been burning since the summer: in July it was established that the party leadership was aware of the false flag attack on Maragall’s posters, but that its actions were aimed more at containing the scandal than at determining responsibilities, which were only assumed after the facts were made public. The disciplinary proceedings are now in their final phase.
In his letter, Rovira also placed Junqueras at the origin of the parallel structure of the party dedicated to anonymously denigrating rivals. “From the presidency, we were considered to be soft and many people asked us to defend ourselves more,” said Rovira. Without directly attributing it to Junqueras or any other leader, Rovira said that the order in the party was to “go and break legs” because it was believed that ERC was “too soft.”
At a press conference, Vilalta criticised the use of Rovira’s messages “in the context of a congress process”. Without explicitly mentioning Junqueras, he did point to the candidate: “We ask the people who want to lead the projects to face the congress in the most responsible way possible.”
“The project is above all and not everything is worth it to win,” Vilalta added, who considered that the leak of the messages “is used more in the context of the congress than to clarify the facts.”
The spokesperson regretted that the leaks to the media “harm the project.” “Trying to win at all costs and using all the arts to win a congress does not help,” she added.
“We once again apologise on behalf of ERC and we will do so as many times as necessary,” insisted Vilalta, who reiterated that the false flag attack “is shameful and reprehensible and cannot be tolerated.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
