three minutes Between 8:15 a.m. and 8:18 a.m. the PSOE added the seven votes of ERC and the seven of Junts, necessary and more than sufficient for Francina Armengol to be the president of Congress, guarantee the "progress" majority in the House and continue to advance in the negotiation of the investiture. Three minutes of "heart attack", according to one of the pro-independence negotiators, to put an end and then a new image: Carles Puigdemont negotiating on the front line with the PSOE. The former president "didn't want to look at it from the sidelines", explained Jordi Turull at the express meeting of the Junts executive, and he has set his conditions for playing the game.
Once the agreement was confirmed, the acting Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolaños, breathed a sigh of relief and provoked a new buried struggle between pro-independence supporters over who is now the "butcher" for having negotiated with the Socialists. Republican Joan Tardà held accounts in public. "Friends of JxCat, welcome to the politics of the pro-independence ERC, traitorous and sleazy, obviously".
The ERC negotiation must have been fluid. The teams know each other and the three years of collaboration in Congress and between governments facilitated understanding. It suited the PSOE to establish the narrative that, like Bildu, ERC granted its votes without much consideration. The Republicans took control and after a few days of exchanging messages, on Thursday, August 10, Teresa Jordà and Rafael Simancas sat face to face in Congress.
Simancas is the interlocutor of the Socialists in logistical matters and the ERC deputy reminds him that there are "political" demands to accompany the 152 votes of PSOE and Sumar in the constitution of the Bureau. The use of Catalan in Congress, the reactivation of the Pegasus commission and the processing of the Amnesty bill.
"We fine-tune the stewardship issues, but not the politicians", admit the Republicans. This Thursday there is no answer, but the problem "rises" to the political negotiators. Friday Bolaños assumes a leading role. The socialist thesis is that political issues will not be addressed in the negotiations of the Bureau, but ERC cannot relax. Junts' silence pressures and drags the republicans into passivity.
The PSOE is starting to move, but the ERC are clear: "It's not enough". "Step by step" arrives on Wednesday of this week. Sánchez undertakes, at the PSOE parliamentary group meeting, to promote the use of co-official languages in European institutions. It does not respond to a request from the ERC, but from MEP Puigdemont.
Sánchez's announcement is in the headlines, but ERC is uncomfortable. The number two of Esquerra, Marta Rovira, remembers that this was a commitment from the dialogue table last summer. An unfulfilled commitment. "We have bad experiences", they say. At ERC they admit that they had worked, but that the Kaili case (the former vice-president of the European Parliament involved in December in a bribery scandal in Qatar) slows down the issue despite the efforts.
On Wednesday afternoon, new developments were confirmed. At 8 pm there are more possibilities than at 6 pm, but "we need more". "We are not only asking for Catalan in Europe. Catalan is threatened here by themselves", underlines an ERC negotiator.
In search of a last push, ERC publicly warns that the agreement is not closed and that it is "reckless" to take its votes for granted. Progress is being made in the recognition of Catalan and it is accepted to recover the commission on espionage with Pegasus, but the socialists are dragging their feet in the demand for de-judicialisation.
Shortly before midnight, a proposal from the PSOE that he likes arrives at the ERC headquarters. They already have the fund. Republicans only correct nuances and "more appropriate" expressions. Optimism is starting to shine in the Republicans' Signal instant messaging service chat, created expressly for the entire negotiation under the name "Parliamentary Group Negotiation".
The final offer arrived yesterday at 8.15 am and was distributed among the dome at 8.23 am. In Esquerra there is enthusiasm, with a team that for days had seen complicated an agreement that rivaled that of Junts. "I had a bad night", admits a Republican negotiator with a certain air of relief.
ERC is the first to set foot on one of the great issues of independence and binds the commitment for "definitive de-judicialization" by "all necessary legal channels". To win the story in Junts in this aspect, Oriol Junqueras, from Prada de Conflent, fast, extends his hand to those of Puigdemont to negotiate it.
The discrepancy is agreed backstage. ERC will read "amnesty law" and the PSOE will look for another term. The concreteness will come in the negotiation of the investiture. Jaume Asens, appointed by Sumar for contacts with republicans and post-convergents, has theorized on the matter. It was offered to the Republicans, but ERC did not want intermediaries. However, contacts have been maintained with Sumar, with Bildu and with the PNB.
Also with Together? Rovira communicates the agreement to Turull before making it public. Turull maintains hermeticism: nothing advances his ERC counterpart. "I can not". Until the vote has been taken. The last few hours there are contacts between them. Rovira even raises the possibility that if the negotiation fails they could coordinate the response. But, discarding the common front to advance, it was also to remain on the defensive.
At 8 a.m. Turull will appear at the Junts executive meeting electronically. Puigdemont does not connect. It is not part of this body of the party. The general secretary informs that the negotiations have been "led" by the former president guided by Turull, Laura Borràs, Míriam Nogueras and Josep Lluís Cleries (although Puigdemont's usual medical team has also worked). Whoever was on the other side of the table is kept under lock and key. The dialogue has been direct, but there are those who point to a modulating role for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Turull reports on the principle of agreement and the "checks" of compliance. The agreement on Catalan in Congress, the Pegasus commission and an investigation into the attacks of August 17 and 18, 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils is closed. Pep Guardiola, from Twitter, supports the investigation: "Spanish State-Generalitat, we want to know the truth". But there is a fringe related to Sánchez's commitment to Catalan in Europe. "We charge in advance", advises Turull.
This is where the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, comes into play, who registers at 8.18 a.m. a letter to the Council of the European Union asking for the official status of Catalan in the European institutions. The minister's signature is at 6:47 a.m. Indeed, the night has been long. During the negotiation, Junts rejects an offer from the PSOE to promote a law on official languages. ERC does accept it, and this is stated in the press release announcing its pact.
There are more gestures along the path that has been traveled in silence. Junts warns that the PSOE candidate to preside over Congress had to be "votable" and points out that Francina Armengol would be. On Tuesday afternoon, the Socialists officially announced the former Balearic president as a candidate. And Armengol makes her debut by announcing as president that she will allow the use of co-official languages. Junts claims that this phrase is also part of their pact.
The express meeting of Junts ends without interventions and, "technically", without communicating the meaning of the vote of the "7 de Puigdemont", but not many clarifications were necessary. The pragmatic sector is satisfied. "Saneness and realism prevail". But they also express some discomfort with the management and the expectations generated.
At 9.26 a.m. in ERC, the messages are running: "Together it joins our way", "it seems that negotiating was a good strategy". "They get on the negotiation bandwagon", they point out as a summary.
What about self-determination and amnesty? "Protecting the language is a priority", answer the Junts negotiators. "It is the nerve of the nation". The rest is for the "next battle". The investiture has two new flying goals: the Diada and September 19, when the Council of the EU must debate whether to process the officialization of Catalan.
