Pedro Sánchez had left two momentous meetings for this Friday ahead of his investiture, the most complicated, although for different reasons. The first was the appointment with EH Bildu, perhaps more relevant for the image itself than for the content. Once the meeting is over and beyond the photograph, the meeting has left an important headline: the Abertzale coalition insists that it “will not speculate” regarding the investiture and takes its support for granted.
The spotlight has passed right after to Junts, which maintains its strategy of prudence and silence in everything related to the investiture and has avoided providing details of the meeting beyond referring once again to the “historical commitment” that Carles Puigdemont demanded in his conference from the beginning of September. In fact, the spokesperson for JxCat in Madrid, Miríam Nogueras, assured at the end of the meeting that she gave the acting president of the Government a transcript of the speech of the former president of the Generalitat. In any case, Junts assures that they are still far from the agreement.
In the media attention after the meeting, Nogueras has avoided commenting on how the negotiations for the amnesty are progressing. “We want to be very careful and we will follow the party line of not commenting on anything, when we have to talk we will talk,” replied Nogueras, who also assured that his party, “in a transcendent and extraordinary moment”, does not want to enter “into the game of headlines and leaks. “There are others for that,” concluded the post-convergent spokesperson. What the deputy has pointed out is that her group will not support the socialists “if it is about doing the same thing as in the last four years.”
The meeting with Nogueras was the most difficult for the acting president since his reelection largely depends on Puigdemont’s formation, especially after the Abertzales have already put their votes in Sánchez’s basket.
Sánchez, accompanied by the secretary of organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, closed his round of contacts for the investiture this Friday with these two appointments, amidst strict marking by the PP, which has simultaneously censored the two photos of the day through its general secretary, Cuca Gamarra. On behalf of EH Bildu, its spokesperson in Congress, Mertxe Aizpurua, and its spokesperson in the Senate, Gorka Elejabarrieta, attended the meeting. Nogueras, in turn, was the representative of the post-convergents at the meeting, which took place in Congress.
The photograph of the EH Bildu meeting with Pedro Sánchez represents a “milestone” for the Abertzale formation in order to consolidate its normalization as a political interlocutor, and this is what the Abertzale coalition wanted to “value.” The pro-independence party, in addition, insisted at the end of the meeting that it “will not speculate” regarding its position regarding the investiture and takes its support for the socialist leader for granted: “Stopping the extreme right is a democratic mandate, with the who has absolute responsibility and determination.”
EH Bildu sent a press release after the meeting in which it wanted to highlight a “constructive” and positive position, both with respect to the meeting and in relation to its position on the investiture.
Regarding the event, the first public meeting of a federal leader of the PSOE and a head of the Executive with leaders of the nationalist formation, the coalition wanted to highlight that “it reflects a way of understanding political activity and situating oneself in the current historical moment.” , above “the tension, the noise and the bad manners try to impose themselves on the political debate.” “The meeting took place in a constructive and positive environment, another milestone that allows us to build a framework of trust to address a cycle of dialogue, negotiation and agreement,” they noted.
Meanwhile, regarding the content of the meeting, EH Bildu has come to insist on the support already announced for Pedro Sánchez to “stop the extreme right.” “Above political acronyms, the vast majority of the Basque people sent a clear mandate: not to allow the reactionary bloc, led by PP-VOX, to form a government in the Spanish State. EH Bildu has once again reiterated that commitment, because he will comply, as always, with that mandate,” he indicated.
The Abertzale coalition has also indicated that “it does not and will not speculate regarding its position at this crucial moment”: “Stopping the extreme right is a democratic mandate, with which it has absolute responsibility and determination.”
Although the formation has not put counterparts on the table, it has indicated that the investiture should open “a new legislature to deepen the expansion of the social and economic rights of Basque workers and the State, the consolidation of policies that promote peace and democratic coexistence in Euskal Herria and the opening of a debate around the plurinationality of the State and the national rights of our people.”
The nationalist party has also asked Sánchez for ambition “to resolve the pending issues.”
