Yesterday Carles Puigdemont chose the place where it all began to present the pact that could put an end to it, the conference room of the Brussels Press Club. The political agreement reached between Junts and PSOE opens an “unprecedented stage” that can culminate in a “historic agreement” to resolve the Catalan political conflict, said the leader of the post-convergent parties six years, nine days and ninety minutes after his first round of talks. press in Brussels after 1-O.
In an appearance without questions, Puigdemont outlined the reasons why, despite the “historical mistrust” towards his interlocutors – “we would not do anyone any favor by denying the evidence,” he said – and the difficulties that he predicts in the future, the pact It is an opportunity for Catalonia that “we will have to know how to explore and exploit.” Now “it is assumed that the resolution of the conflict must be addressed in different terms than the previous legislature,” “there is a change of focus in the official narrative,” he said, with veiled messages that alluded to Esquerra.
Instead, the former president tiptoed over the agreed amnesty law, although he stressed that “there is a shared will not to leave out anyone who has suffered any type of persecution – criminal, economic, administrative – for their mere contribution to the process”. The law “cannot leave out the victims of the dirty war of the Spanish State against the independence movement,” he added.
The leader of Junts took advantage of his appearance to make it clear to his future parliamentary partners that the pact “in itself does not resolve anything” and that the PSOE will have to gain the stability of the government “agreement by agreement” during the new legislature. “The work that needs to be done has to continue month by month, agreement by agreement, and progress has to be made that justifies our support for each law.” Because “support ‘in exchange for nothing’ has gone to the trash can of history,” he concluded, with another blow to ERC.
One of the key points of the pact has been the creation of an international “mechanism” that accompanies the negotiation between both parties and verifies compliance with the agreement. The PSOE has barely given details on this point, but Puigdemont assured that they have already “specified” the members of that forum – “if it is an independent mechanism, it can be neither Catalan nor Spanish,” he said about the mediation – as well as the dynamics of work to address, on the one hand, issues related to self-government, of an economic and administrative nature, and, on the other, issues related to the national recognition of Catalonia, the two great issues that he put on the table in the conference he gave on the 5th. September, the starting signal for negotiations with the socialists.
The negotiation space, in which he himself plans to participate, will meet for the first time at the end of the month but its work "cannot be carried out in the Spanish State," Puigdemont stressed. This statement indicates that the president does not believe that in the immediate future he will be able to return to Catalonia and Brussels may continue to be the scene of future contacts, as has happened now with the investiture talks. However, at JxCat they remain silent about the chosen names and want to work “with minimal pressure and exposure.” “So it should have little public prominence and great internal responsibility,” the now MEP pointed out about that forum.
The intermediate management and leaders of Junts yesterday valued the agreement positively, although there are those who admit, basically along the same lines as what was expressed by Puigdemont, that the content of the pact, in itself, may not meet all expectations. . Especially after the amnesty had already been taken for granted in recent weeks, it had been pointed out that criminal oblivion as a requirement to vote in favor of the investiture was not enough, and that ERC, which was in the target of the former president of JxCat in several moments of his speech, advanced in the signing of the pact and took credit for the law.
But, at the same time, these same voices point out that they do see future potential in the agreed negotiating framework, taking into account that in the next four years, if the legislature advances and there are no surprises or unforeseen events, the PSOE will continue to depend on the post-convergents to carry out their legislative projects in the Lower House, as is the case, for example, of the general budgets of the State. “In the long term it can have a lot of potential, things can be achieved,” says a consulted source.
The pact puts on the table aspects that have been tried to negotiate in recent months and on which to date there is no agreement, such as excluding Catalonia from the organic law on Financing of the Autonomous Communities (Lofca) and agreeing on a unique financing mechanism in such a way that the Generalitat, through the Agència Tributària de Catalunya, can collect 100% of the taxes.
In the party's internal chats, the majority of members celebrated the agreement, although some dissident voices, in a very minority, in the most activist sector regretted that there was no progress towards independence. In the more pragmatic wing, however, they welcomed the new scenario. “Finally we are back to doing politics,” they pointed out.
