Pedro Sánchez has an advantage as a politician: he knows perfectly well the importance of mastering the times. He expressed it in the investiture session with his quote from Antonio Machado, “today is always still”, which shows that time does not stop, but leaves us room to act. In his Manual of Resistance, Sánchez recovered this concept, but, as Henry Kissinger said, he recommends anticipating events even knowing that it entails taking risks.
The president has promised so many things to his seven government partners that not even ten days have passed since he was sworn in and everyone is already asking what's up with them. The one who is in the greatest hurry is JxCat, even though the past should have taught them that taking a break prevents more headaches than aspirin. The pact with the PSOE contemplated that the agreements should have a mediator – the independentists are fascinated by the word rapporteur and the socialists reduce it to verifier – to certify the progress. Their starting positions are clear: JxCat wants the negotiation in the coming months to end in a referendum and the PSOE wants it to conclude with the deployment of the Statute.
During Sánchez's trip to Israel, journalists asked him if this first meeting in Geneva would be held next week and, although he did not talk about dates, he did specify for the first time that there would be a neutral verification figure between parties that start from positions very far away. He also said it in the president's manual: “Governing very often means choosing the least bad option.” And even if you don't like it.
It is evident that when the noise over the amnesty continues to be thunderous in Spain, bringing an international figure to the public to negotiate future scenarios for Catalonia is a new way to raise the volume. The Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero used foreign mediators in the peace process with ETA, but it is evident that the circumstances are not comparable.
Einstein argued that time was an illusion, but he did not say anything that politics was also an illusion, although both things often lead to dead-end labyrinths.
