A new political framework came into play yesterday in Pedro Sánchez's eventual path to Moncloa. Former president Carles Puigdemont and the leader of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, met for two and a half hours in Waterloo, a meeting that restores the distance between both parties during the process, but above all is focused – each with their demands – towards the investiture of the PSOE candidate. The seven seats of Junts, and the five of the PNV are essential, and yesterday they offered new signals from Belgium.
The meeting, held with the utmost discretion, was also attended by Jordi Turull, general secretary of Junts, and Joseba Aurrekoetxea, head of organization of the PNV, key figures in the negotiations. Although each party has its own demands and agendas, the joint photo – there had been no visit by the PNV to Waterloo – and the official statements convey an image of coordination. And, obviously, a message at a key moment. With ten days left until the debate that Alberto Núñez Feijóo will face, the objective is set on dialogue with the PSOE. The PNV has already stressed its rejection of an agreement with the PP, although a meeting between spokespersons Cuca Gamarra and Aitor Esteban is scheduled for this Monday.
From JxCat it is considered that the negotiation in the strict sense will open when the debate with Feijóo passes, but stable communication is maintained, an open telephone, between Puigdemont, Turull, Miriam Nogueras, and the Presidency team with Minister Félix Bolaños at the helm . The trust after the negotiation for the Congress table is maintained.
Junts is waiting to measure the temperature of the PSOE's willingness to "comply" with the commitments requested in what will happen this Tuesday in the EU Council, which will address the official status of Catalan, Basque and Galician. Faced with the reluctance expressed by Sweden and Finland, the juntars understand that the Spanish Government must fully move diplomacy. The approval of an amnesty law as a prior condition is maintained, and has been repeated. And it is considered that there are sufficient tools – for example, the single reading procedure – to do so.
Despite the discretion in the negotiations, JxCat is also aware that an eventual electoral repetition is a scenario that could turn against it. Although the latest polls suggest that it could add one more seat, the possibility of being decisive is another question.
Yesterday's meeting in Waterloo with the PNV, like the one held with Vice President Yolanda Díaz, changes the image that has been projected of Puigdemont.
The PNV, for its part, is proactive in favoring the reissue of the coalition Government and sees in Junts a possible ally in promoting the political approach they outline in Sabin Etxea. The Jeltzales believe that the investiture negotiation can open a window of opportunity to channel the territorial issue, addressing it from a perspective that includes both what they call the “Basque agenda” and the demands that may come from Catalonia.
Those from Ortuzar want to be the protagonist in that scenario. After the last two electoral setbacks, the PNV needs to regain prominence, take the initiative and try to reconcile with a part of its voters, who see the party as somewhat blurred. EH Bildu is hot on their heels, and the commitment is to be more PNV than ever, recovering the national agenda, spinning fine lines on the social level and recovering a relevant role in Madrid, a level in which it now rivals the Abertzale coalition.
The jeltzales have a goal and propose a way to achieve it. It is a reformulation of the state in a plurinational key through a constitutional convention, a formula that would allow the Constitution to be reinterpreted without necessarily reforming it. They have in mind the necessary roadmap to carve that path and see in their former allies in the post-convergent space a possible traveling companion. Yesterday's meeting between the PNV and Junts represents the reunion between old friends, enemies as a result of the process, whose paths could converge again.
