Gabriel Rufián, spokesperson for ERC in the Congress of Deputies, has publicly criticized Carles Puigdemont for commemorating the second anniversary of his brief return to Barcelona and subsequent escape. Rufián called Puigdemont’s actions “ridiculous” and “frivolous,” setting off another round of heated exchanges between Junts and ERC as the Catalan independence movement faces growing internal divisions.
The controversy centers on Puigdemont’s decision to mark the anniversary of his return to Barcelona on 8 August 2024, shortly before the Catalan Parliament’s investiture session for Salvador Illa. Puigdemont, who remains outside Spain, published a previously unpublished photo showing him traveling in a car with Jordi Turull, secretary general of Junts, to show that he was not disguised or hidden during the journey. He said his return was intended to expose what he called the Supreme Court’s resistance to applying the amnesty law, a position he says has not changed.
The appearance took place while a national arrest warrant remained in force. Puigdemont addressed supporters at a Junts-organized event, then disappeared from the scene, prompting a police operation and questions about how he had entered and left the city. A Mossos d’Esquadra officer was later arrested on suspicion of helping him evade capture. The episode followed Spain’s Congress approving the amnesty law, but the Supreme Court had not cancelled the warrant. The dispute centered on whether the law covered the alleged embezzlement linked to the 2017 independence process.
Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena’s interpretation of the amnesty structure left national warrants in place for Puigdemont and fellow Catalan politicians Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, covering their search and detention. That legal conflict helps explain why approval of the law did not automatically clear the way for Puigdemont’s arrest warrant to be lifted. Jordi Turull backed Puigdemont’s account, saying the operation exposed weaknesses in the Spanish state. Rufián called the action unworthy of a president and accused Junts of hypocrisy over patriotism. Turull accused Rufián of seeking notoriety and suggested his actions served Spanish interests. Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, also weighed in, questioning Rufián’s allegiances.
The dispute is unfolding as Aliança Catalana challenges established parties in Catalonia’s pro-independence and nationalist politics. The party won two seats in the 2024 Catalan election. Subsequent projections have varied: one poll cited by El Independiente put it at 17.9% and 30 seats, level with the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya in that survey, while estimates cited from Sigma Dos and the Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió placed it at 25-28 and 23-25 seats, respectively. These are polling projections, not election results, but they show the potential scale of the shift.
Polling has also suggested that Aliança Catalana’s appeal crosses traditional party lines. A survey reported by Vozpópuli found that among voters considering the party for the Catalan Parliament, 18.5% would choose Vox in a Spanish general election, 18% Junts and 13% ERC. Other projections have put Junts at around 13% of the vote or, in a more favourable scenario, 20 seats. The figures underscore the pressure on established independence parties as they trade accusations over the anniversary.
Puigdemont’s return to Catalonia in August 2024 took place under a large police presence, with Mossos d’Esquadra prepared to detain him. He said it was his first time back in Catalonia since leaving Spain in October 2017 to avoid arrest. His appearance and speech were followed by his disappearance, turning the anniversary into more than a symbolic dispute: it brought together the unresolved legal consequences of the independence referendum and questions of police accountability, while laying bare the rivalry between Junts and ERC.
The amnesty law and the Supreme Court’s treatment of the embezzlement offence remain basic to the political dispute. Tensions between Junts and ERC have repeatedly complicated efforts to present a united independence movement, while Aliança Catalana’s polling gains sharpen competition for voters. Each side is using the anniversary to defend its account of the independence cause and challenge the other’s commitment to it.
