No one expected Míriam Nogueras’ intervention in the investiture debate to be an exercise in diplomacy, but the spokesperson for Together in Congress tried to show her more demanding side in front of Pedro Sánchez. Nogueras wanted to make it clear that they are not prepared to tolerate Sánchez’s dialectical balances regarding amnesty, his speech as a candidate. If the socialists have to be forgiven in front of a part of their electorate for going ahead with this measure of grace, Junts also has to do a lot of pedagogy in front of their own to defend the negotiation. “Don’t tempt your luck with us. His speech was not brave”, said Nogueras to Sánchez, the speech had just begun, all in Catalan.
The whole speech of the spokeswoman for Junts had this tone of warning. “Are you prepared to address the Catalan issue directly as we have agreed and signed?”, he asked, and reminded the acting president that “the stability of the legislature depends on compliance with the agreements” signed between the PSOE and Junts . It will be a continuous negotiation. “Can you confirm to me that you are prepared to comply with the 1,486 words of the agreement?”, he stressed, vehemently.
And he made it clear that Junts will change the way of negotiating that Catalanism has traditionally had and will support the central government “to the extent of the piece”. “Instead of making a shopping list, which is always unsatisfied, we want to talk about the whole supermarket”, he stressed.
Nogueras’ tone was undoubtedly intended to convey Junts’ discomfort with the speech with which Sánchez had opened the debate, in which he referred to the amnesty in terms that are discordant with the pro-independence speech. The leader of the PSOE uttered the word pardon more than once when referring to the criminal oblivion of the process.
In the afternoon, Sánchez insisted on showing the differences from the start. “It would be politically hypocritical to deny that we have radically different visions, but there is one thing that unites us as a central element: the progress and stability of Catalonia”, he emphasized. Some television cuts showed him focused and serious, holding the translation headset.
Sánchez spoke of negotiation, not dialogue. There was a desire to iron out the differences. A few hours earlier, the secretary of organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, main negotiator with Junts, had suppressed a sign of crisis, when Nogueras conveyed to him the “discomfort” of the pro-independence formation with the tone of the candidate’s initial speech, especially the story of the process and the references to the amnesty.
That is why Sánchez tried to reassure independence: “You have the commitment of the PSOE and mine to comply with the agreement we have reached”, he assured Nogueras. The president spoke of “political opportunity”, of “opening a new stage” and of the will of his political group to bet “for a sincere negotiation, despite the differences” that separate them with Junts.
“A historic opportunity is opening up that we must take advantage of. I promise to move forward to resolve this conflict”, assured Nogueras.
The president tried to contemporize with those who will be his partners in this legislature, but at the same time he made it clear that the socialists will not allow the pro-independence parties to arrogate to themselves the representation of all Catalans: “The plurality of Catalan society forces us to assume a principle, that no one can patrimonialize the voice of Catalonia”, he warned.
