After Pedro Sánchez's open defense of the amnesty this weekend, the PSOE is confident that the agreements for the investiture will be accelerated. It is something that ERC also hopes will happen, but despite the fact that the Republicans recognize that the negotiations “have intensified” and that they are “key days” for the possible investiture of Pedro Sánchez, they also point out that none of the three folders that have placed on the table “it is closed.” Furthermore, Esquerra presses the brake pedal a little more when he remembers that the amnesty he demands “must be total” and respond to everything that was generated around 1-O.
All these considerations were expressed this afternoon by Raquel Sans, ERC spokesperson. Those of Oriol Junqueras are more optimistic than last week, when they stated that the negotiations were green or that they were not going well. Sans has shown that the conversations are now going through the correct channels. In the three folders: amnesty, self-determination and social welfare (transfer of Rodalies and ending the fiscal deficit). But none of these issues are closed, as reported by the spokesperson.
“These are decisive days and time is ticking (…). If they are in a hurry, they will have to resolve these issues,” Sans insisted. However, the Republican leader has not ventured to set a date for the investiture. The amnesty “must be total,” as she has said. And that would imply that he would have to cover some terrorism accusations that affect alleged leaders of the Tsunami Democràtic (which led the 2019 protests after the Supreme Court ruling) or some members of the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR).
“Whether [the investiture] has to be next week or two weeks from now is the responsibility of Pedro Sánchez,” Sans reiterated.
The negotiation that seems to be furthest from closing is that of social welfare. The PSOE's proposals on Rodalies do not at all fulfill the aspirations of ERC. Not even, for now, a calendar or a commitment to completely transfer its management. The fiscal deficit is another aspect that is not going in the right direction, according to Republicans. A debt forgiveness of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) has been labeled by Sans as a “patch”. “We want an end to the chronic fiscal deficit, and not a one-off correction,” Sans complained. The Department of Economy calculated that the fiscal deficit in 2021 was 22 billion years, “and this has been repeated for the last 40 years,” the spokesperson stressed.
