Pedro Sánchez and Pere Aragonès telephoned each other at the end of October to finally get the agreement on the investment pact on track. Once passed, they already have a date to see each other face to face. It will be on December 21 at the Palau de la Generalitat.
"It will be a working meeting, it is not a courtesy meeting between two presidents for the beginning of Sánchez's term", warned the Councilor of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, yesterday. The president, still on an official trip to South Korea, wants to address different issues and one of which will be to resume the dialogue table between governments.
Therefore, "what we have to do is to give cruising speed to the negotiation", pointed out the minister, which "must be used to create the effective negotiation framework" on the three folders that Aragonès has placed as "priorities" : addressing the "political conflict" between Catalonia and Spain, a "singular" financing system and the integral transfer of Rodalies.
Sánchez and Aragonès met for the last time in Moncloa on July 15 of last year, although the two presidents have not lost contact, and they gave an impetus to an investiture pact that was marked by the amnesty that the President of the Central Government justified again yesterday in an interview with RNE. "This was probably not the next step I wanted to take, but it is a coherent and consequent step with the policy of normalization and stabilization in Catalonia", he acknowledged.
What has happened then to change the criteria? "What happened is July 23", indicated Sánchez, who said that he understands that there are "many conservative voters, and even those who are not conservative, refractory and who have doubts about this decision". Despite this, the president guaranteed "to each other" that "this decision will be good for coexistence in Catalonia and therefore in Spain", and that "everything we do will be within the Constitution".
The head of the Spanish Executive also justified the articulation of the two dialogue tables of the PSOE with ERC and Junts – the meeting with the post-convergents is tomorrow Saturday – and the participation of an international verifier: "It is good that, if two do not understand, there is a third to accompany us".
But in parallel to these two forums, the central Government and that of the Generalitat must resume the negotiation table to resolve the political conflict, which has not met again since July 2022.
ERC and the Government warn that the approval of the amnesty – which could be a fact in April 2024 – is not an end point, but a starting point. Those of Oriol Junqueras demand that steps be taken to call a referendum on self-determination and Aragonès' will is to advance in this direction during the Spanish legislature. Thus, the Republicans will set out a clarity agreement, on which the Government is preparing a proposal.
In any case, the Catalan president also wants to monitor compliance with the agreements with the central government, new and past. The Government intends to pass accounts of issues that have not yet been implemented and that have been dealt with in bilateral commissions. The appointment will serve to launch the corresponding negotiation spaces as soon as possible and Rodalies will be a central issue.
There is also an issue in which Aragonès will put all his interest: financing. The president insists on claiming "singular funding" for Catalonia, and although this does not appear specifically in the investiture agreement, he wants to take advantage of Congress' arithmetic.
In fact, the Government is preparing its ideal proposal. The head of the Catalan Executive recently commissioned the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, to draw up a proposal for self-financing in which Catalonia collects all its taxes. The aim is to put an end to a fiscal deficit amounting to 22,000 million euros in 2021 alone.
At the same time, Councilor Mas has the task of coming up with mechanisms to ensure compliance with the investments committed by the State in Catalonia.
