The former Catalan president and leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, warned last night in a private conversation held in Brussels with the leader of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, that if "there is not sufficient progress" in his agreements with the PSOE, his deputies could add their votes to those of the Popular Party in the Congress of Deputies to vote against laws such as those on the State budget.
This threat from the independence leader to Sánchez fell three days before the first meeting that the PSOE and Junts will hold in Geneva next Saturday, December 2, with an international verifier under the agreement on the investiture of the President of the Government between both parties.
The talk between Puigdemont and Weber occurred when both politicians met by chance at the beginning of a gala organized by the Politico Europe portal. One of his reporters, who was able to hear part of the conversation, later asked Puigdemont if he could confirm what he had heard. The answer was affirmative. "We could vote with the PP to tear down the budget or for a resolution on Israel, where our position is actually more aligned" with this party, Puigdemont told Politico during the ceremony dinner, in which his list of the '28 most influential personalities' in Europe in 2024. The Catalan politician appears in the category of 'disruptors' in second position, behind Elvira Nabiullina, Vladimir Putin's banker, and ahead of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
A hypothetical motion of censure would be an option if Junts and the PP could agree on an independent president of the Government to replace Sánchez, the former president suggested to Weber. "But for that, the PP must take a step towards us. They cannot continue treating me like a terrorist," Puigdemont told Politico, who stressed to the leader of the EPP that his only crime six years ago was placing ballot boxes in the referendum on 1 -EITHER. Popular European sources confirm the content of the conversation, in which Weber raised his concern with Puigdemont that the tension between separatists and unionists is facilitating the growth of Vox ("you feed each other," the German reproached him).
The meeting occurred by chance. It was in fact the first conversation worthy of the name that Weber and Puigdemont have had since he obtained his deputy certificate four years ago. Puigdemont's presence at last night's gala as well as the very fact that the EPP leader stopped to talk to him (their conversation lasted around five minutes, an eternity in politics) denote a certain normalization of Puigdemont's presence in Brussels. after the elections of July 23. The leader of Junts arrived accompanied by fellow MEP and former councilor Toni Comín, who also got involved in the talk and responded to Weber's criticism about the possible calling of a referendum that the Spanish Constitution contemplates authorizing this type of consultative consultations.
In statements to Politico, Puigdemont opted for a provocative cinematic comparison when referring to the inclusion of the term lawfare in the political pact between Junts and the PSOE, which has been so criticized by the associations of Spanish judges. The mention, the former president said, is a warning to judges and politicians who, in his opinion, have exceeded their duties. "The term lawfare is like the horse's head in The Godfather: it is a warning that we are serious," he said.
Puigdemont's approach was immediately responded to from Madrid by the popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who rejected such a possibility and who "despite Sánchez's laughter" reiterated that "it is not possible" for him to be president with Puigdemont's votes, because " “It is incompatible with the current conditions of Junts.” Feijóo was clear. “I cannot accept what Mr. Sánchez has accepted. Junts does not name me president of the government, Mr. Sánchez does.”
Puigdemont's statements are surprising due to the discretion that the two parties (PSOE and Junts) have imposed on themselves regarding their own talks, which will enter a new phase next Saturday in Geneva with a verifier. Puigdemont will lead the JxCat delegation, which will also include the group's general secretary, Jordi Turull. On the part of the PSOE, it will be Ferraz's organizational secretary, Santos Cerdán, who will lead the negotiating delegation, as confirmed by Sánchez himself, and the attendance of his right-hand man, Juan Francisco Serrano, who also participated in the negotiations for the investiture
Despite confirming this first meeting next Saturday in Geneva, the socialists also defend that these negotiations take place with the utmost discretion, and that they only reach the citizens when progress is made in the talks. The details of the verification mechanism have not emerged either, but both Turull, general secretary of Junts, and the party's spokesperson in the Senate, Josep Lluís Cleries, have revealed in recent weeks that this institution has already helped reach the agreement to the re-election of Pedro Sánchez.
Politico justified the inclusion of Puigdemont and the Flemish far-right leader Tom Van Grieken, leader of Vlaams Belang, in the list of personalities who will be most influential in 2024 as "a nod to the current times of polarization." Their selection, in fact, "includes not one, but two secessionists," they explain. Regarding Puigdemont, the publication highlights that "the Catalan who managed to secure an amnesty for an illegal independence vote in 2017 - and perhaps even another opportunity for secession - in exchange for propping up the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez." Politico defines him as a kingmaker, a "transcendental actor" in Spanish politics and a "man on the run" who has managed to elude Spanish prosecutors.
"It is not surprising that Puigdemont conditioned his support for Sánchez on a general amnesty for him and all others prosecuted for their participation in the Catalan separatist movement during the last decade," notes Politico, recalling that this was not the first time that he has played the role of a hinge party, as in the motion of censure with which Sánchez arrived at Moncloa in 2018 with the votes of the late PDeCat. In his opinion, Puigdemont will continue to be "crucial" in the future, since without the seven Junts deputies, the PSOE will have great difficulties in approving any bill in a Congress as "hyper-fractured" as the one that emerged. of the polls in the last elections. "It remains to be seen whether he will be able to use that power to promote a new self-determination referendum for Catalonia, this time with the approval of Madrid."
The 'class of 2024' list selected by Politico points to Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council and potential prime minister of Poland, as the most powerful personality in Europe. The Italian leader Giorgia Meloni leads the ranking of the most active and entrepreneurial leaders, followed by Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron, among others. In the category in which Puigdemont stands out, the 'disruptors', in addition to Nabiullina and Orbán, there is the German Foreign Minister, the green Annalena Baerbock, and Weber himself, as president of the European Popular Group in the European Parliament, to which They present themselves as The Green Deal Killer, for their campaign against the nature restoration law.
