"The process is over, and in Catalonia there will be no self-determination referendum," Pedro Sánchez proclaimed on Thursday night, from Brussels, a few hours after Congress approved by a large majority the repeal of sedition and the revision of the crime of embezzlement for which the independence leaders of 2017 were convicted.
On this reform of the Penal Code, which now continues its express processing in the Senate, the threat of the decision that the Constitutional Court may adopt next Monday still hangs. But, after the granting of pardons to the leaders of the procés in June 2021, this penal reform represents for Sánchez the culmination of the agenda of dejudicialization of the political conflict in Catalonia.
With the always controversial Catalan folder closed and with the new general State budgets already approved before the end of the year, according to his purpose, Sánchez wants to focus all the time on the new electoral cycle of 2023. "We are entering electoral mode," they warn in the PSOE. In just five months the municipal and regional elections will take place on May 28, and the Socialists have in their goal to recover Barcelona, with a candidacy for mayor of Jaume Collboni in a tough fight, among other formations, with ERC.
In the Moncloa they warn that they do not contemplate in the near horizon a new meeting of the dialogue table for the resolution of the political conflict with the Government of Pere Aragonès. "It is not scheduled," they allege.
And much less before the end of the current year, despite the fact that this was the agreement signed last July in Barcelona between Minister Félix Bolaños and Minister Laura Vilagrà.
Despite the enormous political and media outcry raised by the embezzlement reform, even among some sectors of the PSOE that fear its electoral repercussions, in Moncloa they call to wait for the current storm to subside: "It will not have a cost", they assure .
On the contrary, they are convinced that, just as it happened with the approval of the grace measures for the leaders of the procés, their soothing effects will be verified in a short time. And, far from being a drag, this penal reform is thought to also become an "electoral asset" for the PSOE.
“Pardons, sedition and embezzlement are not among the concerns of citizens in Spain. In addition, the measures that are being adopted are effective and are having good and visible results. You just have to see the tranquility in the streets of Barcelona and other Catalan cities. Catalonia has been pacified”, they argue in Moncloa.
And despite the fact that now Oriol Junqueras and Pere Aragonès return to focusing on the self-determination referendum in Catalonia, due to their own political and electoral strategy, in Moncloa they forcefully close this door: "There will not be a referendum, nor an agreement nor unilateral, because it is unconstitutional ”, they settle.
In his long run-up to the electoral campaign –today he will star in a rally in Valencia together with Ximo Puig–, Sánchez will incorporate into his speech the benefits that, in his opinion, this policy of dialogue and agreement is bringing to defuse the political conflict in Catalonia.
It was what he already began to do on Thursday from Brussels, given the harsh criticism expressed by other regional presidents of the PSOE who are also facing re-election in May, such as the Castilian-La Mancha Emiliano García-Page and the Aragonese Javier Lambán. “What is best for Spain is what is best for Catalonia, which is coexistence”, justified the head of the Executive.
"The process is over and today in Catalonia coexistence prevails and the Constitution is complied with," he stressed. And he pointed out two other effects of his deflating policy: "The unity of the independence movement is broken and the unilateral path is not being considered today."
