Despite the satisfaction shown by Pedro Sánchez – “all's well that ends well” – the Government and the PSOE are now facing with concern and high doses of uncertainty the hangover from the heart attack vote saved on Wednesday thanks to a battery of counterparts agreed with Junts at the last second. “This cannot be repeated again,” warn even PSOE leaders, who warn that in this legislature we should not “turn every vote into a Vietnam,” as Salvador Illa very graphically defined yesterday.
The prominence given to Carles Puigdemont's training also bothers socialist sectors. The turbulent parliamentary day, the strategy of legislating through decrees, in addition to the agreement sealed with Junts in stoppage time – of which not even some of the ministers who will be affected by the agreed measures had any news – also takes its toll on the Executive in form of the anger provoked in other essential partners, notably Esquerra, which asked the Moncloa for explanations, but also the PNV or Bildu. And Podemos festered its particular struggle.
The Government, in any case, was deployed yesterday to highlight the importance of the social measures of the decrees finally validated, and to reproach the PP's contrary vote. And also to try to reduce the scope of the agreements signed with JxCat, or at least qualify the interpretation that Puigdemont's party makes of them, which since Wednesday night has not hidden its euphoria and even perplexity at what has been achieved.
The organization secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, assured on Monday that, if they managed to reach an agreement with Junts, they would make it public immediately. But the PSOE did not convey, black on white, what pacts it finally reached with the independence party, which is why it allowed JxCat to take the lead in relation to said initiatives at first.
Without a public paper signed by the PSOE –there is, there is, they say in JxCat–, the first vice president of the Government, María Jesús Montero, and the ministers Félix Bolaños and Pilar Alegría tried yesterday to limit the scope of the measures, which seemed to reduce in varying degrees of enthusiasm shown by Junts.
Thus, the Government warned that the delegation of powers over immigration will be specified in an organic law that will support it. In that sense, the general secretary of JxCat, Jordi Turull, acknowledged that for now there is only “one political agreement” that had not been given before and that will take shape in a detailed negotiation with the socialists. “We will have to agree on the fine print,” Turull conceded.
The norm will have to gather the endorsement of at least 176 deputies to see the light, according to the socialists. Therefore, the detail of this delegation of powers will not only be the result of the agreement between the Government and Junts, but will also have to incorporate the rest of the majority groups of the investiture. “We will have to discuss the scope and resources,” warned Montero, who stressed that the ownership of immigration competence will continue to be the State's, since it will not be transferred, but will be delegated to the Generalitat.
Turull, for his part, considered that in the delegation of these powers "there are capital issues, in issues such as flows, language or labor matters." “As a country and nation we have a lot at stake on this issue. It is not easy, but we assume the responsibilities. It is a capital issue,” insisted the sovereigntist leader, who wants to influence all these areas and immigration permits.
Another of the controversial measures agreed upon, the suppression of article 43 bis of the Civil Procedure Law, “does not change anything,” in the opinion of Bolaños, since the jurisprudence on preliminary ruling questions before the European courts is already well consolidated. Junts, on the other hand, celebrates that at least an instrument is not given to the judges, since – they argue – the Supreme Court has not always followed that doctrine.
Regarding the public transport bonus, the ministers highlighted that the State will continue to subsidize 30%, regardless of whether or not each autonomous community assumes its share of 20% as until now. However, it no longer forces communities to pay the remaining 20%. Before Yes.
Finally, the Government will not publish the fiscal balances either, in the terms in which Junts highlighted it. According to Montero, what the Ministry of Finance will do is “make the data available” so that any administration or research center can prepare its own fiscal balances. “There is no consensus on the methodology,” alleged the vice president.
Be that as it may, the signed document has not emerged, and despite the nuances of Moncloa, there is satisfaction in JxCat. They see that in the punctuation there is part of the story.
