The brief talk held between President Pere Aragonès and Félix Bolaños last week at the Cecot awards accelerated the formalization of the agreement that was staged on Thursday in a hotel in Barcelona between ERC and PSOE. A pact endorsed by 89% of the Republican party's membership.
They had been negotiating since August, but the final push came after Republicans publicly and privately criticized that the talks were not going well. They had talked a lot about the amnesty law, although it was not enough, since the Tsunami and CDR cases were left out of criminal oblivion, but financing, Rodalies and claims for unfulfilled commitments had not been addressed. They blamed the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, for this. After the criticism, the outcome arrived.
ERC sources explain that the movement began on Monday. The Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, met in a hotel establishment; that of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà; the president of the parliamentary group, Josep Maria Jové, and the secretary of the Generalitat, Núria Cuenca, together with the minister of the Presidency Fèlix Bolaños and the Minister of the Treasury, María Jesús Montero to talk about financing. Much progress was made on the issue and they urged to meet again throughout the week.
The next day, on Tuesday, and electronically, the Rodalies proposal was addressed in another meeting with secretaries of State and the Government.
A technical meeting that ended at one in the morning after a long day in which all the measures that are ultimately included in the transfer were discussed point by point. The pact for railway infrastructure would not be finalized until the afternoon of November 1, which was a holiday.
The meetings between ERC and PSOE have been held throughout this week at multiple levels, since on Tuesday, at the same time that Rodalies was being discussed, the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, Vilagrà and Jové held another meeting to finish to agree on the text of the amnesty law with Bolaños. For the Republicans, it was essential to include the Tsunami defendants and the CDR in the classification of the crime, an obstacle that was resolved with a 15-minute call between the acting president Pedro Sánchez and Aragonès. The result was a joint statement after ten at night announcing the agreement.
On Thursday, all that remained was to agree on the financing portfolio with those responsible for the Treasury, with whom it was possible to reach an agreement on the forgiveness of the Generalitat's debt and an investment package, among other initiatives. From there, the staging of the agreement begins to be prepared. It is decided to take the joint photo, but present the pact separately. Each party at its headquarters and Aragonès at an event on the amnesty in La Modelo.
Apart from these work teams -political and technical-, a small group of people, formed by the communication service and part of the party leadership, especially Rovira and Junqueras and also Aragonès, have provided support in the negotiations with the socialists.
The figure of the mediator, rapporteur or intermediary “of recognized prestige” has been agreed upon throughout the negotiations. From ERC they explain that the PSOE has accepted two names. These are internationally recognized institutions, according to training sources. The Republicans are cautious and assure that they will not make themselves known until Junts makes a decision.
