"We will continue negotiating." The conversations between Junts per Catalunya and the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, which seemed almost settled and on track after Monday's photo of Carles Puigdemont and Santos Cerdán – number three of the socialists and person of the maximum confidence of the President of the Government in office – will continue beyond today, according to sources from the formation consulted. The two actors, after the agreement with Esquerra Republicana has already been signed this Thursday, point out that in the file relating to the amnesty there are still pending issues, as the acting minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños.
This Thursday, the party leadership met for about six hours with former president Carles Puigdemont at the Thon hotel in Brussels – the same one where he gave the conference to set JxCat's conditions for negotiations on September 5 –, in an appointment in which they analyzed the status of the negotiation. However, the party conclave has ended without a definitive approval of the agreement with the PSOE.
In that hotel in Brussels, a press room had been prepared for the former president to appear in case the pact was sealed, but early in the afternoon the technicians dismantled the sound system that they had prepared and the lectern. That the negotiations are at an advanced stage is also proven by the fact that the possibility of holding an extraordinary meeting of the party's national council this weekend was contemplated and that internal party events have been postponed due to the possibility that coincide with the investiture debate. But for now everything is up in the air.
Today's meeting was attended by the permanent members of the party as well as the presidents of the parliamentary groups of the party in the Chambers in which they are represented. The permanent is a small management body with representation of the different sectors of JxCat and the main leaders, including the general secretary, Jordi Turull, the president of the formation, Laura Borràs, as well as the vice presidents of the organization or the leader from JxCat in Madrid, Míriam Nogueras.
In addition to the leaders already mentioned, the president of the Parliament, Anna Erra, the spokesperson and vice-president of the formation, Josep Rius, the second secretary of the Parliament Bureau, Aurora Madaula, the finance secretary of the party, the councilor of Reus and senator Teresa Pallarès, the president of the parliamentary group of the Catalan Chamber, Albert Batet, the one of the Senate, Josep Lluís Cleries, the deputy David Saldoni, assistant to Jordi Turull in the secretary general and in charge of municipal policy, the organizing secretary, David Torrents, and MEP Toni Comín, who was scheduled to present his book today in Elna, in the south of France, and has postponed the event to tomorrow Friday due to the appointment of the permanent.
The roadmap that Junts now manages in the event of an agreement is to call an extraordinary meeting of the national council and then have a consultation with the militancy. In any case, in the first instance a meeting of the party executive would be held, which has been on the sidelines of the negotiation at all times and is unaware of the details of the conversations with the PSOE.
In the vote of the militancy it will be seen whether the party members – who a year ago advocated leaving the Government of the Generalitat and breaking the coalition with ERC – endorse the strategic turn of Puigdemont, who closed the door shortly before the general elections to negotiate with the PSOE and to invest Sánchez in the two interviews he gave.
The socialists, in turn, have also amended their pre-campaign statements. Sánchez, without going any further, said that Puigdemont was "an anecdote." On the other hand, last Monday the number three of the PSOE traveled to Brussels to stage the progress of the negotiation and the acceptance of Puigdemont as a political interlocutor after years of disagreements and criticism. At that meeting it was already made clear that the agreement was on track, although there were still some issues to close. Specifically, it was noted from both parties that the negotiation was moving "in the right direction."
The idea of the socialists was to close the negotiating folder today with both Junts and ERC and set the date of the investiture for next week.
