The idea of the PSOE to try to close the agreements for the investiture this week matches the claims of Esquerra: in mid-September Marta Rovira, number two of the Republicans, said enough in the last-minute negotiations. To avoid "partisan concessions". But in order for there to be promptness, ERC needs to close agreements with the socialists, and none have been closed yet, he assures.
Of course, Oriol Junqueras acknowledged yesterday that the talks have intensified, even if this necessarily means that there is progress. However, they put the brakes on: they remember that the amnesty they claim "must be total" and respond to everything that was generated around 1- O. Òmnium Cultural calculated that it should include more of 1,400 people. It should therefore include those accused of terrorism from the Democratic Tsunami – which led the post-sentence protests in 2019 – and some CDRs.
In addition, the three portfolios of amnesty, self-determination and social welfare remain wide open and if Pedro Sánchez sounded the inauguration drums on Saturday with his crazy bet for a future law of criminal oblivion, ERC does not want to take still one of the drumsticks to make them sound.
"These are decisive days and time is running out (...). If they are in a hurry, they will have to resolve these issues", warned Esquerra spokeswoman Raquel Sans yesterday. "If [the investiture] should be next week or two weeks from now, it is Sánchez's responsibility," he reiterated.
Republicans are more optimistic than last week, when they said negotiations were green or not going well. Sans gave signs that the talks are now taking place along the lines they consider correct.
The negotiation that seems to be the furthest from being closed is that of social welfare. PSOE's proposals on Rodalies do not even remotely satisfy ERC's aspirations. Not even, for now, a calendar or a simple commitment to the total transfer of its management.
The fiscal deficit is another aspect that is also not on track. A remission of the debt of the regional liquidity fund (FLA) was described as a "patch" by Sans. "We want an end to the chronic fiscal deficit, and not a one-off correction", he complained. The Department of Economy calculates that the fiscal deficit in 2021 was 22,000 million euros, "and this has been repeated for the last 40 years", he stressed.
Regarding ERC's discontent, Catalunya en Comú warned yesterday that "it would not be understood that any progressive force would not support [the investiture] when the alternative is the right and the ultra-right". It is a prevention against the temptation not to support the investiture, despite the "powerful" governing pact between the PSOE and Sumar. "No progressive force can say that the agreement (between Sumar and the PSOE) is a bad government agreement," said spokesman Joan Mena.
Nevertheless, the commons are "optimistic" about the transfer of Rodalies and are trying to convince ERC that the fiscal deficit can be satisfied with the commitment to reform the financing system "to make it fairer with Catalonia", included in the coalition agreement thanks to "the persistence of the commons", they remark, and the forgiveness of the debt of the FLA.
For its part, the PSC is in the process of deploying its defense of the amnesty against the "doubts" it can raise among its own and strangers: "We defend the same thing as in 2017, coexistence", pointed out the deputy first secretary of 'organization, Lluïsa Moret, shortly after the internal consultation on the agreement with Sumar was enabled, the question of which was obvious in the amnesty.
