The Círculo Ecuestre hosted a colloquium on Tuesday led by Gabriel Rufián, head of the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) list for Congress in the general elections. 

After the welcome by the president of the Círculo Ecuestre, Antonio Delgado, the ERC representative held a dialogue with Álex Sàlmon, journalist and director of the Abril supplement, from the Prensa Ibérica group, who moderated the event.

The presentation began by covering the electoral debate between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo held this Monday. The journalist wanted to know what was the perception by the head of the ERC list before the face to face between the candidates of the PSOE and the Popular Party. “I was surprised by Sánchez's slowness and lack of reflexes in the face of Feijóo's speed, capacity and calm. Feijóo played Sánchez and Sánchez de Feijóo”, Rufián assessed.

The speaker at the second colloquium of the General Election cycle promoted by the Barcelona club stressed that "I did not expect Feijóo's props in such a clear way", alluding to the request for votes made by the leader of the PP to the President of Spain. "The voter borrowed from the PSOE deserves to know if his vote will be to stop the right or if it will imply an abstention for Feijóo to govern," he said. Given this situation, Gabriel Rufián called to "give the vote to political formations like ERC."

Sàlmon asked Rufián what would happen if, finally, the Popular Party governs. "We will have to respect the result," declared the speaker, to later reproach that "it is bad that the right raises this type of blackmail and that they ask people for their vote in exchange for not agreeing with Vox." He also wanted to point out that "fear of the extreme right often does not benefit the left, on the contrary, it joins the side of the PP."

His relationship with Yolanda Díaz, leader of the Sumar coalition, was the subject of debate during the colloquium held at the Círculo Ecuestre. Rufián wanted to clarify that he "is not afraid" of the candidate, denying some headlines, but that he is "worried about not understanding Yolanda, and her company, when they talk about Catalonia or the referendum." Next, the Esquerra Republicana candidate defended Irene Montero, assuring that "few laws have been so terribly necessary as the law of consent" and that this "was approved by the vast majority of the chamber and the council of ministers", referring to the criticism derived after its approval.

Within the framework of the interview, Gabriel Rufián charged against the judiciary: "It is bad news for this country that a part of the judiciary plays politics," he said, later adding that cases, such as La Manada, have ended with the defendants in prison "thanks to social pressure, and not to the judicial one."

Asked by the moderator, the Esquerra Republicana spokesman defended his party's position against the government's labor reform and assessed that, because "public debt is at historic levels", "at the tax level, those who have more should contribute more and, those that less, less”. “Great fortunes have increased exponentially, as have inequalities. That supposes a debate of future ”, he said.

Gabriel Rufián defined himself as "an example of successful linguistic immersion" when asked about the subject by the moderator. “Education has to be a state policy in Catalonia” and “it is necessary to protect the minority language”. "One has 10 million speakers and the other 700 million," said the speaker.

The head of the ERC list in Congress in the general elections declared before the members of the Círculo Ecuestre that "it is undeniable that there is a conflict to be resolved between Catalonia and Spain", referring to the independence process. Given this, he expressed that “if Feijóo wins the elections, we will have to see his project for Catalonia. He will not be able to deny us, make us see that we do not exist and put us all in jail ”. Along these lines, the speaker called on the other formations of the Catalan left to "work for the citizenry".




Álex Sàlmon wanted to conclude the interview by asking the leader of Esquerra Republicana what would happen if Catalonia were independent and in the municipal elections a party that wanted independence for Barcelona won. When asked, Rufián replied: "what I can promise you is that we would not put anyone in jail."

You can see the session again through the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/4NV1kfdvvdw?feature=share