Pedro Sánchez has already made the decision – the amnesty – that will mark his mandate. Time will tell if for better or worse. Now, the president is already walking towards another milestone: he was the first political leader to be president, winning a motion of censure, the first to govern in a coalition and everything indicates that, barring a last-minute accident, he will be the first to govern without winning an election. . While the Moncloa prepares the investiture and runs pools on ministers, it is the time of the liturgy, the transfers (the alternative is a government of PP and Vox) and iconic images. The photo of the urn is one of them.
That Santos Cerdán, Sánchez's chief plumber, traveled to Brussels to meet with Puigdemont is a bad decision that the PSOE has had to take. A lesser evil, some say. The date was chosen well, the hours before Princess Leonor was sworn in to the Constitution to minimize criticism. The PP could not be very forceful yesterday, it was not enough. And the images were chosen well. The cameras shortened the shot because right above the former president there was a large photograph with a mass lifting a 1-O ballot box.
But social media was relentless. In X there are intense days, a prelude to what can happen in a part of a country that has not known political calm for some time. The PSOE is having to rectify what it said it was not going to do and will have to explain it. He also has to put up with some militant tearing up the card and displaying it. And he even has to swallow the umpteenth torpedo from Felipe González, answering “Who do you take me for?” when he is asked if he would have been photographed with Puigdemont.
The PP, saving the truce of the oath, has also raised its tone. He has no other choice. With some stridency, because hearing Feijóo proclaim that “not even the mother who gave birth to her knows this left” seems more like a speech from another leader. The problem for the Popular Party is that they have to combine their implacable opposition with a project for Catalonia. Without a strong Catalan PP, Feijóo will have a difficult time reaching Moncloa.
There are days of noise coming, even more than the current one. Sánchez takes it on because he has the opportunity to close the circle. It must be remembered that not long ago, in 2019, the current candidate for the investiture had to leave the Sant Pau hospital under escort when he went to visit the police officers injured in the protests after the 1-O ruling. Rufián then accused the PSOE of being “arsonists.” Today that environment is very different. In Madrid, no. In X, neither.
