Yesterday the Congress of Deputies established three investigative commissions related to Catalonia. One deals with the Catalunya operation, the practices of the so-called sewers of the State and the patriotic police and the Ministry of the Interior in the time of Jorge Fernández Díaz to harm and incriminate the independence movement, and comes after an agreement between the PSOE and Junts per Catalunya ; another is about espionage on independence leaders with the Pegasus program, and is the result of an agreement between the socialists and Esquerra Republicana; and a third, which also comes through an agreement between JxCat and the PSOE, will address the unknowns of the jihadist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017.
The three commissions are a consequence of the agreements last August between the pro-independence forces and the socialists for the election of the Congress Board, a first stone for the subsequent agreement on the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
Thus, today begins the deadline in the institution for the parliamentary groups to present a work plan and requests for appearances, a matter that will then be debated and addressed in the commission to approve a definitive work plan and appearances. The former president of the government Mariano Rajoy could appear on that list. In the past, attempts were made to have him appear, without success, but at the time the PSOE prevented him from having to appear. The scenario now is different. From JxCat they assure that there is an agreement with the socialists not to veto names on the lists of those appearing.
In the commission that investigates the Catalunya operation, there will be a socialist deputy at the head, María Luz Martínez Seijo.
The body that will investigate the espionage of sovereigntist leaders with an Israeli program from the company NSO Group – some have been recognized by the Government itself, but not all – will also have a socialist at the head, Luis Carlos Sahuquillo.
In the commission related to the attacks of August 17, 2017, however, the Sumar deputy and general secretary of his parliamentary group Txema Guijarrro will lead the work. On the Board of that commission there will be representation of the popular Catalans, with María de los Llanos de Luna and Nacho Martín Blanco. The objective of JxCat is to try to clarify the role of the CNI in the attacks, since it emerged that the imam of Ripoll was an informant for the intelligence services.
In the two commissions that Junts proposed, it had the support of the PNV when registering them. Be that as it may, the two partners of the central coalition government, PSOE and Sumar, will have a majority on the Board of the three investigative bodies.
A priori, people summoned to appear have a legal obligation to attend, as stated in the Constitution.
