Relations between the Government and ERC are going through a critical moment, since the espionage of the CNI on Pere Aragonès and other pro-independence leaders was revealed. The planned appointment between Pedro Sánchez and the president of the Generalitat has not materialized, almost twenty days after both were summoned to meet. Nor the dialogue table between the two executives. And the change of criteria of the Supreme Court to review the pardons for those convicted by the procés adds fuel to the fire. Moncloa trusts that the appearance that the Chief Executive will star in Congress tomorrow to address the Pegasus case will help to redirect this serious situation. And, meanwhile, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, has today demanded that the Republican formation bet on "useful politics". “Do not abandon the dialogue”, Bolaños has demanded from the ERC deputy Carolina Telechea, during the control session of the Government in Congress this Wednesday.
During the session, the spokeswoman for Junts, Miriam Nogueras, began by denouncing the persecution of independence by some "sewers of the State", while the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, insisted that "Spain is a democracy full”, where “ideas are not pursued”, but facts that could constitute possible crimes: “Everything here is done with light and stenographers”. And, then, Telechea has launched harsh complaints against the royal family, after the recent episode of the return to Spain of King Juan Carlos. The ERC spokeswoman has assured that the emeritus should have been arrested on this trip, "if the Spanish State were a full democracy."
“The Government and Felipe VI have seen how an abusive, embezzler, liar and corrupt king has skipped all the rules that he governed, arriving in Spain like Welcome Mr Marshall, with great frivolity, in style, in a private jet which costs 7,000 euros an hour. He has laughed in the face of his own son's face and has refused to give any explanation”, denounced Telechea, who has criticized “the shameful role” of Moncloa and the PSOE in this entire episode. The Republican deputy has warned that "corruption is in the DNA of the Bourbons", going back to Isabel II or Alfonso XIII. “The problem is not the sewers of the State, the State is the sewer”, she has settled.
Telechea's intervention has been harshly criticized by the president of Congress, the socialist Meritxell Batet, who has announced that all references to the monarchical institution will be removed from the session diary. “When he addresses state and constitutional institutions, he has to do it with due parliamentary respect. For the decorum of the Chamber, but also for respect for the institutionality of this country, because it is the democratic institutionality that we have all given ourselves”, Batet argued.
Félix Bolaños, to whom Telechea's criticisms were directed, then lamented his words, which he has described as "extremist" and which he has equated with the speeches of the extreme right of Vox. “They should not compete in that space”, the minister has recommended. However, he has wanted to be conciliatory with ERC. “Dialogue is a hallmark of this government. That is why I also ask you to bet on useful politics, to bet on dialogue, not to abandon it, because it is the only way to advance in complex societies like the ones we have”, Bolaños has summoned.
The Minister of the Presidency has insisted that these complex societies must be managed “with dialogue, looking each other in the eye and overcoming difficulties, speaking, negotiating and dialoguing”. "That is the call I make to you, to useful politics," Bolaños summoned ERC.
Upon leaving the plenary session, the minister insisted, in any case, that "pardons are absolutely legal." Bolaños has shown "the maximum respect of the Government" for the decision of the Supreme Court, which will now review the granting of these grace measures to the independence leaders convicted by the procés. “It is a good time to remember that the pardons are absolutely legal and strictly complied with all the requirements established by law,” he defended. “Not only are pardons legal, but they served a greater purpose, which is to overcome the unbearable tension that existed in Catalonia and the rest of Spain, and move on to a new stage presided over by dialogue, negotiation and agreement," he insisted. "The pardons were not only legal, but they fulfilled the purpose of making Catalonia a more habitable place today," he assured.
