Jorge Valdano once said after a game he lost at the last minute: "I swam across the ocean and drowned on the shore." A negotiation like the one that has been opened between the two parties in the Government of Spain and Junts (or, to be more exact, Carles Puigdemont) is like one of those football matches with an uncertain result, in which a bad pass in the last moment or an untimely penalty at the end can ruin all efforts to reach the beach.
The day after Puigdemont's press conference in a Brussels hotel, where he set out his conditions for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, the noise was no less than expected. The Barcelona press tries to see the more pragmatic aspects of the appearance and the Madrid press highlights that there is no credit card that can pay for the expresident's bill. The PP leader, after listening to him on television, resigned from meeting with Junts representatives because the Waterloo man's demands are "unacceptable and impossible." It was quite similar to what Felipe González proclaimed at almost the same time on Onda Cero: "The Constitution does not fit amnesty or self-determination."
Those who want to see the positive side of Puigdemont's words appreciate that the demand for amnesty, but not for the referendum on self-determination, facilitates negotiations for Sánchez to repeat. The former Catalan president wants an amnesty law to be approved as a matter of urgency, despite the fact that the Government is in office. But, although the jurists of the left have doubts about whether the amnesty is compatible with the constitutional framework, they are looking for the formula to make it possible. It's not as easy as preparing a Nespresso, as Puigdemont thinks. What turns out to be a contradiction is to claim an amnesty without renouncing the unilateral path that condemned the leadership of the independence movement.
I don't know if an optimist is a misinformed pessimist. But those who are optimistic about the inauguration of Sánchez should know that it will be very difficult to cross the sea and reach the sand alive, because sharks smell blood and not all lifeguards are certified.
