A minute of intervention by Carles Puigdemont in Strasbourg in front of Pedro Sánchez has enabled the former president as a political interlocutor, and normalized Junts' negotiating bet. The post-convergents have launched a double strategic assault on ERC, with fronts in Madrid and Barcelona, which is giving more income than expected due to the unforced errors of the Republicans in the management of areas as sensitive as education or drought restrictions.
In the Congress, Míriam Nogueras' criticism of the judges, endorsed by Jordi Turull - "if you don't want dust, don't go out to the era" - allows Junts management to argue that there is no strategic turn and the confrontation with the ' State, not with the Central Government. If the confrontation with the judges is intelligent, it will be seen with the amnesty law approved and the courts applying it. Turull spent three years in prison and they even investigated it for transferring property to his wife before October 1, a case that ended up being filed, so Nogueras' intervention may seem "quite moderate ".
Together they have sat at the political table, but their resignations are circumstantial and practical, not dialectical. "This is Junts", they remember, and few dare to dismiss the turn towards pragmatism as closed. Puigdemont can praise Minister Albares for his efforts to advance the officialization of Catalan and the next day warn Sánchez that "distrust is born from non-compliance" and "the consequences are never pleasant". Nogueras has the mandate to keep the tension in the stands while he sits down to negotiate in Switzerland with a mediator. Gabriel Rufián is no longer the only pro-independence hammer on the podium and the camera is no longer looking for the face of the ERC spokesperson but for the looks of the post-convergent.
Calling judges "indecent" and affirming that they should be "ceased and tried" not only revolts all the judicial associations, the General Council of the Judiciary, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, its lawyers... Sánchez himself has assumed the concept of lawfare, although he only finds it in the Gürtel case, and ministers like Óscar Puente certify it in the Neurona case, which he pursued for three years in Podemos. I don't believe nas Meigas, mais habelas hainas. But it is one thing to challenge the political right and another to break a power of the State. In Junts there are those who miss a bit of "diplomacy" in the new stage in Madrid. The battle against the judiciary is, at the outset, a lost battle that forces the super minister Félix Bolaños to come out in defense of judicial independence, proclaim the good health of the Rule of Law in Spain and privately appease the judges pointed out by Nogueras .
At the same time, Junts is trying to pull ERC against the ropes on the way to the Catalan elections. Hence the agreed but dateless announcement of the meeting between Sánchez and Puigdemont when ERC prepares a meeting of presidents at the Palau de la Generalitat and the strategy of wearing down the Government of Pere Aragonès. The results of the PISA report and the political management of the suspense, the misunderstandings about the measures to combat the drought and an idle budget negotiation give Junts room to present its alternative model. Measures in education, against multiple recidivism, and an economic model with lower taxes and compliance with investments are in the post-convergence portfolio. The first formal meeting between the Government and Junts to address the 2024 budgets took place this week, but it would be surprising to see an agreement that gives some breathing room to the Republicans.
Albert Batet takes it for granted that the Catalan legislature has, "at best, one year" and insists every plenary on the "agony" of the Republican Government. It is, they say, to verify "the failure" of ERC and to keep the volume of the alternative high enough to stifle Aragonès' attempts to strengthen his presidential profile. Thursday's meeting with Sánchez will grant him a precious photo, but Junts knows himself to be the protagonist and is on the lookout for unpublished images and better results.
