Socialists and Republicans signed an agreement yesterday to invest Pedro Sánchez. An agreement that was well advanced after the alliance reached on Tuesday night on the amnesty law and which materialized in the afternoon in a meeting in Barcelona between the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras.
Despite this important advance in the face of Sánchez's investiture, the PSOE failed to convince Junts. The negotiations were continuous on Thursday morning and continued throughout the day yesterday with the aim of staging the agreement with republicans and post-convergents. Finally, they could only present the pact with ERC.
The socialists want to put an end to the amnesty negotiations to present a law that, according to sources of the talks, they say invokes the rule of law and the Constitution as a basis for coexistence. They want to put an end to the rejection and wear and tear that is causing them the processing of a proposal that has not yet been made public, but which has the title: "Organic law to normalize the institutional, political and social situation of Catalonia".
Together, he convened the leadership of the formation in Brussels to decide whether to validate the alliance with the Socialists, but in the end he decided to put his support for Pedro Sánchez on hold. The hotel in the Belgian capital that hosted the meeting of the party's permanent executive had a room ready in case Carles Puigdemont appeared to announce the pact, which in the end did not happen. The former president told X last night of his distrust of negotiations with the Socialists and called for "prudence and caution".
The post-convergents have chosen to continue negotiating, as they say that there are small fringes that, for the moment, separate them in the talks to agree on the amnesty law. Questions that for the socialists have their origin in the competition between Junts and ERC to dominate the pro-independence board, and which, in any case, should not change the proposal that is already drafted and ready to be submitted to the Congress register.
However, for JxCat these issues are insurmountable and must be resolved if they want to get their yes for Sánchez's investiture.
Despite the setback due to the uncertainties sown by the post-convergents, the PSOE does not intend to change the calendar to invest Sánchez next week. They assure that there is still time and hope to be able to register the amnesty law in Congress today in order to proceed with the processing. In the socialist ranks, they also do not rule out that the agreement with Junts could be presented if the talks are consolidated.
While, in Brussels, Carles Puigdemont closed the party meeting, Bolaños together with Salvador Illa, from the headquarters of the Catalan Socialists, Junqueras, to the ERC, and President Aragonès, in an event at the Model , separately shelled out the agreement obtained, after months of negotiations.
On paper, the forgiveness of 15,000 million of the debt of the Generalitat has been signed, which has already revolted the president of the Junta d'Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, who has criticized the favorable treatment of Catalonia. Also the transfer of R1, R3 and part of R2 from Rodalies. A long-claimed demand that will be resolved with the creation of a joint Generalitat-State company, divided in 50%.
Another of the issues subscribed to is that of maintaining the dialogue table, started last legislature, incorporating a verifier of "recognized prestige" and dealing with the low budget investment, among other issues in terms of financing.
Bolaños congratulated himself on the agreement reached after months of negotiations. An agreement that, as he said, is aimed at making Catalonia more livable and at maintaining dialogue. According to the Minister of the Presidency, the agreement signed with the Republicans is not only limited to the investiture, since ERC is committed to guaranteeing the stability of the Executive throughout the next legislature.
Junqueras, who assured that with the alliance with the PSOE "Catalonia wins", also warned that support over the next four years will be subject to compliance with the agreements signed yesterday. The republican leader appealed to Junts' responsibility so that "all the political spaces help to make this go well". For his part, Aragonès also celebrated the new pact and called for an "amnesty" aimed at all "retaliated against without exception", and claimed the role of the republicans for the fact that those charged with terrorism crimes were included in the text - Democratic Tsunami and the CDR-, which at the beginning were left out of the proposal. For the president, this does not represent the final point of the negotiation with the Government, which will have to advance through the dialogue table "towards self-determination".
But the pitfalls of the amnesty law are not only in the area of Junts. The conservatives of the Judiciary are asking for an extraordinary plenary to reject the criminal oblivion of the process and the PP, which every Sunday demonstrates against the amnesty, will present a battle in the Senate, where it plans to reform the regulations to delay the application of the law.
In addition, the socialists still lack the contest of BNG, Coalició Canària and the PNB. The latter have already shown discomfort regarding the pact with Sumar to incorporate economic measures difficult for the Jeltzales. Sánchez is close to being re-elected president, but he still has to overcome obstacles to reach the investiture debate.
