Artadi, tired of being the puppet of Torra and Puigdemont

Manel Manchón

Artadi, tired of being the puppet of Torra and Puigdemont

The Minister of the Presidency finalizes her exit from the Govern after verifying that a coherent action is impossible without going through the consultations with Waterloo.

A total satiety. Elsa Artadi completes her exit from the Government of Quim Torra, to be part of the municipal lists for Barcelona, ​​with Joaquim Forn, after verifying that it is "impossible" a coherent line of action in the Catalan Executive. Artadi, who has wanted to maintain and maintain a good relationship with the Government of Pedro Sánchez, is in the position of making permanent consultations. To the point of being reason for comment of the vice president Carmen Calvo in the last meetings held with the Catalan executive.

Artadi checks every day that President Quim Torra neither acts according to his position nor wants to do so. Sources familiar with the internal functioning point out that, in certain meetings and interviews, Torra asks his interlocutor to say the same to such or such counselor. He simply has not wanted to pay too much attention and blames others. He believes that it is not his job. That is only in front of the Generalitat to maintain the flame of the proclamation of the republic and keep the post to Carles Puigdemont.

PDeCAT and factions

But that generates the nerves and the anger of Artadi, who ends up solving the internal questions and the differences between the different departments. Not those that Esquerra Republicana directs, that have their own dynamics. To the point, and as a sign of the existing differences, that Junts per Catalunya has begun to blame the Republicans for not reaching an agreement with the Comuns party to approve the budgets, because the Economy Department is in the hands of the Republican Pere Aragonès .

That is the reality of a broken and uncoordinated Executive. Artadi is stressed by former President Puigdemont, but also by the PDeCAT, divided, in turn, in different factions, and even by former President Artur Mas. With all of them she shares and consults her decisions, what has caught the attention of the Spanish Government, and of the Vice President Calvo, who does not dare to draw a road map without reliable interlocutors.

Artadi, following the steps of Mas

In the case of Esquerra, the Spanish Government has all clear. It is true that the republican MPs have the ascendant of Oriol Junqueras. And that the president of ERC receives visits from the party leadership in Lledoners. But the coherence is greater. You know what you want to do from the Executive, and also the red lines that you do not want to transfer. But, on the other side?

Artadi said enough. Another thing is that Joaquim Forn himself sees in it an essential piece for his candidacy for the mayor of Barcelona. In fact, if the president's adviser goes as number two, she will be the head of the effective list. And Artadi has also reached a conclusion: she can be a councilor in the City Hall, whether or not she participates in a government team, and wait for her moment. It was exactly what Artur Mas did before being a candidate for the Generalitat for the first time in 2003, against the socialist Pasqual Maragall. But came to win the elections, but did not govern, after the agreement of the first tripartite left.

The Crida factor

What is hidden in the Government of Torra is a huge mess, according to the sources consulted. The struggle for power is what moves all the councilors, with the addition now of the constitution of the Crida per la República. Artadi herself - who broke her PDeCAT card before the 21D elections - is part of the Crida, along with Damià Calvet or Laura Borràs.

The direction of the PDeCAT sees in Artadi a lesser evil. Artadi's initial bad relationship with Marta Pascal, the ex-coordinator general of the party, defenestrated by Puigdemont, has given way to a fluid exchange of information with other leaders of the PDeCAT, despite the fact that mistrust remains. And Artadi is still close to Artur Mas. Artadi's partner, Heribert Padrol, also maintains that good relationship with whoever was one of his collaborators, in his time as deputy of CiU in the Congress, under the leadership of Xavier Trias.

Too many consultations

But the problem is of greater draft. What do you want to do, what is the government project? All that is stopped, because Puigdemont tries, with the Crida, his own investiture, and press, as much as he can, Esquerra Republicana to achieve joint lists that allow all that post-convergent world to continue in positions of power. Artadi, if she wants to maintain her political career, should leave the Government, as advised by the most loyal to the Minister of the Presidency.

Without a political apparatus of its own, without ancestry in a specific territory, Artadi depends on a management position, where he can shine with his own light. And that space can be made possible by the City Council, without having to contact, every two times, with Waterloo, with Mas, with the headquarters of the PDeCAT in Barcelona, ​​with the vice-president of the party, Miriam Nogueras, or with the classic convergent deputies in the congress. "So you can not live," say sources familiar with the political position of Artadi. The satiety is total, because, in fact, nobody of all that post-convergence space, except for some exceptions, such as the Minister of Enterprise, Àngels Chacón or Damià Calvet himself, who has been dragged, although sympathetic, by that movement-party called the Crida that nobody knows how it will end.

https://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/politica/artadi-cansada-guinol-torra-puigdemont_217653_102.html