What prompted you to become a fully-fledged politician?
I wanted to promote and defend the rights and freedoms of Catalunya. As the President of Barça, I was able to promote the image of Catalans internationally, but I never thought I would make the step into politics until about a year before my mandate ended. I had been involved in some demonstrations as an individual but, of course, I could not compromise my position as Barça President, so I thought it would be an idea to use the popularity I gained as President and my trajectory as President, and the knowledge and experiences I have had in my life, to promote my country. After a lot of reflection, I decided to go into politics.
Why did you decide to form your own party rather than join one of the existing ‘independence’ parties, like Reagrupament, for example?
With respect to the traditions of political parties and the movements we had at the time, I thought it was more important for the country that we generate something new, something professional, fresh and innovative. I created my own party with the idea of explaining to people the advantages Catalunya would have as an E.U. state. My proposal was to join all the political parties with parliamentary representation—whether independentist or catalanist—and create a coalition, to go into the next elections together, with the mandate of building a new Catalan state in Europe. This was my proposal. It was accepted by individual people, citizens’ movements and political parties without representation but the ones that had representation in Parliament decided not to join. I have to respect that.
Has it created conflict?
I had my suspicions they would not accept it. And the reason they did not accept, I know, is because they are afraid of change and change that is good. Because they practise a kind of corporate politics, I think they refuse to face up to the reality...they think it’s necessary to maintain the status quo in order to develop themselves and the interest of their parties, without considering the interests of the country.
Latest Comments
To Dave Tierney
Posted by Patrick November 10, 2010 10:52:12
Laporta
Posted by Dave Tierney November 06, 2010 10:32:38
barf
Posted by Richard November 06, 2010 10:10:49
Shame
Posted by Patrick November 02, 2010 12:41:21