Inés Arrimadas, the centre-right Ciutadans candidate in the regional elections, says: ‘Those who have got us into this mess aren’t the ones to get us out of it’

When Emmanuel Macron won the French elections, Inés Arrimadas was quick to applaud the victory of a “liberal, centrist and pro-European” candidate. If the polls are anything to go by, Arrimadas, the Ciutadans (Citizens) candidate for regional president in next month’s Catalan elections, may emerge as the leader of a Macron-style government in Catalonia.

Much of the rise of Ciutadans in Catalonia can be credited to Arrimadas, who at 36 is the youngest and also the only female candidate to take power in elections called after Madrid sacked the previous administration and imposed direct rule following its declaration of independence.

A passionate and articulate speaker, she has galvanised the disparate, anti-independence half of the population and is taking votes from both the rightwing People’s party (PP) and the socialists.



Timeline Eight key moments in the Catalan independence campaign Show Hide Spain’s constitutional court strikes down parts of a 2006 charter on Catalan autonomy that had originally increased the region’s fiscal and judicial powers and described it as a “nation”. The court rules that using the word “nation” has no legal value and also rejects the “preferential” use of Catalan over Spanish in municipal services. Almost two weeks later, hundreds of thousands protest on the streets of Barcelona, chanting “We are a nation! We decide!” At the height of Spain’s economic crisis, more than a million people protest in Barcelona on Catalonia’s national day, demanding independence in what will become a peaceful, annual show of strength. The pro-independence government of Artur Mas defies the Madrid government and Spain’s constitutional court by holding a symbolic vote on independence. Turnout is just 37%, but more than 80% of those who voted - 1.8 million people - vote in favour of Catalan sovereignty. Carles Puigdemont, who has replaced Mas as regional president, announces an independence referendum will be held on 1 October. Spain’s central government says it will block the referendum using all the legal and political means at its disposal. The Catalan parliament approves referendum legislation after a heated, 11-hour session that sees 52 opposition MPs walk out of the chamber in Barcelona in protest at the move. Spain’s constitutional court suspends the legislation the following day, but the Catalan government vows to press ahead with the vote. Police arrest 14 Catalan government officials suspected of organising the referendum and announce they have seized nearly 10 million ballots destined for the vote. Some 40,000 people protest against the police crackdown in Barcelona and Puigdemont accuses the Spanish government of effectively suspending regional autonomy and declaring a de facto state of emergency. Close to 900 people are injured as police attempt to stop the referendum from taking place. The Catalan government says 90% voted for independence on a turnout of 43%. Spanish government takes control of Catalonia and dissolves its parliament after secessionist Catalan MPs voted to establish an independent republic. Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, fires regional president, Carles Puigdemont, and orders regional elections to be held on 21 December.

Critics say that Ciutadans is nothing more than a younger version of the PP with little in the way of clear-cut policies. Now Macron has given the party a point of reference.



“In Spain we’re still stuck with this idea that you can only be either politically left or right,” she said. “So when a liberal, centrist and progressive party emerges of the type that exists in other European countries, such as Macron in France, they don’t know what box to put us in because there are only two.”



According to the polls published so far, Catalonia’s pro- and anti-independence parties are running neck and neck in the run-up to the 21 December election.



The Catalan regional election – everything you need to know Read more

Ciutadans are only about one percentage point behind Esquerra Republicana (Republican Left), whose leader, Oriol Junqueras, is in jail remanded on charges of rebellion. The two are polling at about 25% while Together for Catalonia, the party of the deposed president Carles Puigdemont, trails the anti-independence socialist party in fourth place with about 13%.



On current figures, coalitions of pro- or anti-independence parties would be tied on 46%, leaving the leftwing Catalunya en Comú as a potential, though unlikely, kingmaker.



After two successive elections left Spain with hung parliaments Ciudadanos, as it is known nationally, agreed to support Mariano Rajoy’s minority PP government, despite Ciudadanos’ stand against political corruption. About 900 PP members, including former government ministers, face corruption charges.



“We didn’t enter into government with the PP precisely because it’s corrupt,” says Arrimadas. “We agreed to support it only if they adopted measures to eliminate corruption.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Inés Arrimadas gives a speech during a meeting to present Ciutadans’ campaign for the upcoming regional election in Catalonia. Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

As for Catalonia, for the past seven years it has had little government in any normal sense as most of the ruling coalition’s energies have been focused on the independence campaign. Were she to become president, Arrimadas says she would dedicate her first 100 days to unravelling this process.

“In the first 100 days of governing, the question of social cohesion will be fundamental. We need a plan to bring business back, and the sooner the better or else they won’t come back at all, which is what happened in Quebec. We have to divert all the money that is now being spent on independence propaganda to public health and other social services. We need to change the priorities for public spending. Up to now, it’s been on the Catalan embassies, foreign trips, public TV – all for propaganda purposes.”



Another priority, she says, is to improve English teaching in schools and to make English, Spanish and Catalan vehicular languages in primary and secondary education. At present, school students are taught Spanish two hours a week and three to four in English, with Catalan the only vehicular language.



Arrimadas was born in Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain and has only lived in Catalonia for the past 10 years. “I don’t hide my origins and I’m very proud of them. It’s very Catalan to have roots elsewhere in Spain or the world. The reality is, I feel Catalan but my parents come from elsewhere in Spain – that’s very Catalan.”



While this may appeal to millions of other Catalans of Spanish descent, not everyone is so inclusive. When Arrimadas commented recently that another four years of the independence “process” would be a disaster, Núria de Gispert, the former speaker of the Catalan parliament, said: “In that case, why don’t you go back to Cádiz.”



Ever since direct rule was introduced last month and Puigdemont’s government found itself either in jail or in self-imposed exile, key figures in the independence movement have been pulling back from their hardline stance, rejecting unilateralism and calling for dialogue. Arrimadas says people should not be taken in by this.



“The secessionist parties have nothing to offer,” she says. “Don’t be fooled by what they’re saying now. If they get back into government they’ll carry on as before. Now that they see that we can win they’re toning down the message so as not to scare people off.



“Does anyone believe they’ve gone back to believing in the constitution and the law? After six or seven years of the process, there’s nothing positive to show for it – companies have left, tourism is down, job creation is down. It’s been disastrous. Those who have got us into this mess aren’t the ones to get us out of it.”

