From the beginning of the talks between the PSOE and Junts, towards the end of August, Carles Puigdemont included a meeting with Pedro Sánchez among his conditions. It was about transmitting the message that the former president of the Generalitat, despite his escape from Spanish justice, is recognized as a political actor for all intents and purposes. It is a rehabilitation of his figure, vilified since his impeachment through article 155 of the Constitution. This is not an unimportant gesture.
The Junts leader thought he could get the photo of an informal meeting taking advantage of Sánchez's appearance at the European Parliament on the occasion of the Spanish presidency of the EU. It was scheduled for September, but was delayed due to the interim period after the general elections. Sánchez refused the photo until the investiture was guaranteed. In the end, he went to Strasbourg this week, already revalidated in Moncloa.
But Puigdemont still hasn't obtained the official status of Catalan in Europe, one of the "advance payments" he claimed. So this time the photo didn't suit either of them. In addition, Sánchez will see Pere Aragonès next week with all the ceremonial aspects of a meeting between two presidents. For Puigdemont, an informal meeting would not have been enough. And Sánchez had had enough of his confrontation with the European right, which questions Spanish democracy because of the amnesty.
So it was left for another occasion, in the form of a quieter meeting. The photographers could only capture in Strasbourg the small distance between the two and their attempt to appear natural. The next day, to the irritation of the PSOE leadership, Jordi Turull revealed that there will be a meeting "as needed" between the two. Indeed, they will see each other, although in Moncloa, at the moment, they do not have a date and they would prefer that the meeting did not have to take place abroad. Or that at least the arrest warrants against Puigdemont had already been lifted with the approval of the amnesty law so that Sánchez does not have to face who he is today, for legal purposes, as a fugitive from the Supreme Court.
At the same time that Junts demands gestures of political recognition from the PSOE, it also aims to appear as Sánchez's most demanding partner. Together, he not only competes with ERC, but also with the part of the party that joined during the process due to his combative pro-independence activism and even with the myth of the former president as the leader of the "intelligent confrontation" with the state
So that one day Puigdemont measures his words in the European Parliament in front of Sánchez without focusing on the "repression of the State" and the next day his spokeswoman in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, lashes out against the judges, who she describes as '"indecent" with names and surnames. Just when the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, tries to appease this front.
Together he managed to introduce the term law fare referring to judges in the political pact signed with the PSOE, but not in the amnesty law as he tried at the beginning. Even so, it has caused outrage in the judiciary. The central government distinguishes between the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary. Give the second as lost. He considers it a simple executive arm of the PP. Even Sánchez used the word law fare to refer to the CGPJ. But something else is the Supreme. The minister is trying to rebuild institutional respect with this court. And Nogueras cited two of the Supreme Court judges who have decisions on amnesty in hand: Manuel Marchena and Pablo Llarena, whom Bolaños called to assure them that the Spanish Government does not share what the spokeswoman said at all of Together
As long as the amnesty is pending, Sánchez is guaranteed the support of Junts. Beyond that, everything depends on the Catalan elections, which will be decisive for the course of the Spanish legislature. In Moncloa they trust that Salvador Illa will get the presidency of the Generalitat. If so, it will be easy for the PSOE to justify the pacts with independence, including the photo with Puigdemont or the former president's return to Catalonia, which he sees as triumphant. If not, all this can be very indigestible for the PSOE. Sánchez credits everything to the Island effect.
