Amnesty, yes, but there must be something more: progress in self-determination. It is the maximum that ERC has maintained since July. Republicans take the law of criminal oblivion for granted. "The amnesty is a fact", said Pere Aragonès on Thursday without going any further and in the framework of the negotiation for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The second folder remains to be dealt with, according to Esquerra. With this aim, the president of the ERC parliamentary group and the party's national council, Josep Maria Jové, met yesterday in Barcelona with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños. An appointment in which, as La Vanguardia has learned, the following question, that of a referendum, has been presented by the ERC despite the misgivings of the PSOE. However, in statements to this newspaper, socialist sources assure that "in no case is self-determination on the agenda of the PSOE" in these negotiations.
In fact, they cling to the document that the PSOE and ERC forged in 2019 and signed in 2020 for the creation of the dialogue table and in which the words self-determination or independence are not explicitly mentioned. "The measures in which the agreements materialize will be subject to democratic validation through consultation with the citizens of Catalonia", says the text.
It is a framework that Marta Rovira, general secretary of ERC, foresees in a certain way. "At least the PSOE should assume the same as in 2019", said the leader this week, so in this sense the two parties could come to an agreement.
In any case, Esquerra goes beyond amnesty in the talks. Yesterday, Jové wanted to make it known in person to Bolaños. The republicans retain the hope of a negotiation for self-determination that they saw close after Thursday's statements by Salvador Illa, who positioned himself in favor of recovering the dialogue table between the Generalitat and the central government because in his opinion "has borne fruit", without this necessarily implying talk about self-determination.
The Bolaños-Jové meeting took place at noon after the minister attended the Government delegation in Catalonia. Yolanda Díaz has also visited the Catalan capital, but ERC focuses its efforts on dialogue with the socialists.
The Oriol Junqueras have a third folder that is also putting as a condition for the investiture: social welfare. It includes tackling the integral transfer of the commuter train service and securing a fiscal deficit that the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, estimated at 22,000 million euros.
The coordination between ERC and Junts is, for now, non-existent. The PSOE and Sumar are negotiating with the post-convergents and they indicate to the Government that the talks are being more fluid than with the Republicans. It seems that ERC corroborates this statement when it says that it sees it as complicated that there is an agreement for the investiture before November begins.
