The dry braking that seems to have been suffered by the legislature after the Catalan electoral advance, officially convened yesterday, is being felt in the launch of the three commissions of investigation -attacks of the 17th- A, Operation Catalonia and Pegasus – accepted by the PSOE in exchange for ERC and Junts supporting Francina Armengol as president of the Congress, which guaranteed a progressive majority in the lower house. And seven months later, the work of the commissioners has not yet begun due to differences in criteria between the Central Government and its partners.
This is the case of the investigation of the jihadist attacks committed on August 17, 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils. The session that was scheduled for yesterday was postponed again due to lack of agreement on the work plan.
While Esquerra Republicana and Junts want to investigate in detail the connection between the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and the imam of Ripoll (Girona) Abdelbaki es Satty, considered the leader of the terrorist cell and who went died on August 16 in the explosion of the house in Alcanar (Montsià) where the group was preparing explosives, the PSOE and Sumar have registered a road map in which they limit themselves to proposing the method that the commission must follow. That is, the way to proceed when satisfying requests for access to classified information.
The Socialist Party yesterday avoided saying no in response to the opening of some of these files. But the need to carefully and rigorously study each of the requests was taken to avoid the uncontrolled dissemination of information that had been kept private until now. That is why the new postponement set by the commission’s presidency will delay the next session at least until after Easter.
The other two commissions are a different case. The point of friction in the investigation of the so-called operation Catalonia – centered on the alleged parapolice plot set in motion during the PP governments to attack Catalan independence even with the fabrication of false incriminating evidence – is the list of witnesses drawn up by each other and that is making it difficult to draw up a consensual and definitive list.
ERC has been adamant in its proposal to question several judges in Congress, including Manuel García-Castellón, who recently extended for six months the investigation of the case in which Democratic Tsunami is being investigated for a possible crime of terrorism To this fact the PSOE has responded by curbing the appeal of magistrates alleging the commitment signed with the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe not to summon them to exempt them from informing on the substance of their cases to anyone “stranger to the judiciary”.
Regarding Operation Pegasus, focused on the alleged espionage perpetrated by tapping the mobile devices of several pro-independence leaders, including the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, the PSOE objected that the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, appear with lights and stenographers as the ERC parliamentary group had requested.
The socialist refusal, in addition, received the support of Sumar. Its parliamentary spokesman, Íñigo Errejón, directed the efforts of the group led by Yolanda Díaz to focus the work of the commissioners towards “the investigation of the mechanisms that have allowed these to take place eavesdropping on mobile devices”. And he confirmed the casting of his position in loyalty with his partner: “We are part of the Government”, he pointed out.
Despite the differences listed here, the socialist spokesman, Patxi López, showed the commitment of his formation so that the electoral call in Catalonia does not alter the planned plans and the commissions of investigation can start working in Congress in the coming weeks: We continue to maintain the relationship with ERC and Junts. Talking and building bridges for the agreements that we consider necessary”, he stated to scare away the ghosts of a false closing of the commissions before even the engines were started.
