The brief conversation held by 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 Barcelona hotel between the ERC and the PSOE. A pact endorsed by 89% of the militancy of the republican formation.
They had been negotiating since August, but the final push came after Republicans retracted publicly and privately that the talks were not going well. They had talked a lot about the amnesty law, despite the fact that it was not enough, since the Tsunami and CDR cases were left out of criminal oblivion, but they had not addressed financing, Rodalies and claims for unfulfilled commitments. They blamed the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero. After the criticism, came the denouement.
ERC sources explain that the movement began on Monday. The Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, met in a hotel; the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà; the president of the parliamentary group, Josep Maria Jové, and the Secretary of the Generalitat, Núria Cuenca, with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to discuss financing. Much progress was made on the matter and they urged to meet again later in the week.
The following day, Tuesday, the Rodalies proposal was discussed electronically in another meeting with Secretaries of State and the Catalan Government.
A technical meeting that ended at one in the morning after a long day in which all the measures that were eventually included in the transfer were discussed point by point. The pact for the railway infrastructures was not finalized until the afternoon of November 1, which was a public holiday.
The meetings between ERC and PSOE have been held throughout this week in multiple areas, since on Tuesday, at the same time that Rodalies was discussed, the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, Vilagrà and Jové held another meeting to finish agreeing on the text of the amnesty law with Bolaños. For the Republicans, it was essential to include those accused of the Tsunami and the CDRs in the classification of the crime, a dilemma that ended up being resolved with a 15-minute call between the acting president, Pedro Sánchez, and Pere Aragonès. The result was a joint statement after ten o'clock at night in which the agreement was announced.
On Thursday, all that was left was to agree on the financing package with Finance officials, with which it is 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 in an act about the amnesty in the old Model prison in Barcelona.
Apart from these working teams – political and technical – a small group of people, made up of the communication service and part of the party's leadership, especially Rovira and Junqueras and also Aragonès, has 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. The ERC explains that the PSOE has accepted two names. These are internationally recognized institutions, according to training sources. The Republicans are cautious and say that they will not make themselves known until Junts makes a decision.
