They have already seen each other several times and maintain regular telephone contact, which is why the meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Pere Aragonès yesterday afternoon at the Palau de la Generalitat was designed to overcome the formality with concreteness on what had already been negotiated, turn it into a working day and get down to business, all in a climate of understanding that is more accentuated than ever.
ERC agreed to the re-election of the socialist as president of the Spanish Government mainly in exchange for an amnesty that is already being processed, a transfer of Rodalies that will require time, but for which the dots are already being put on the IS, and advance in the resolution of the political conflict, for which the independence supporters propose a referendum. So, from the face-to-face came the commitment to convene the dialogue table between the Spanish and Catalan governments for the first quarter of 2024. The two presidents will be present. In previous appointments they stayed away.
In addition, they urged the approval of an organic law guaranteeing multilingualism that “guarantees the right of citizens to address the General Administration of the State in Catalan”, an aspect that was already noted during the negotiation between ERC and the PSOE for the formation of the Congress Bureau and, in turn, for the investiture of Sánchez. Of course, there is now a deadline and Aragonès assured, in his appearance before the press, that it will be approved in the first semester of next year.
Likewise, it was agreed to transfer the management of the minimum vital income (IMV), which will be approved by the Council of Ministers on December 27 – agreed with the ERC last term, but with no concrete date – to promote the project to to the installation in Catalonia of a technology center for the production of chips (with an investment of 300 million), and to develop, from January, the agreement and the schedule to advance the transfer of Rodalies, with the aim of creating in the first three months of 2024 the State-General commission for the transfer of “infrastructure”, as explained by the Catalan president.
For Rodalies, the Generalitat has made an estimate of the debt contracted by the Government in the last year. He calculates that there are 603 million to be paid in 2024 after the approval of the general budget of the State, but there was no heading that would commit Moncloa to materialize the contribution.
Where there are notable differences is in the resolution of the political conflict. According to Sánchez, the amnesty law “is a good law”, but the self-determination referendum that the Government is asking for has no place in it. It is not constitutional, he said, but he is willing to find a “middle way” to improve Catalonia’s self-government, including new funding.
The Government wants a “singular financing”, the result of a bilateral agreement and which includes the collection of all taxes in Catalonia and full fiscal sovereignty. La Moncloa, on the other hand, wants a multilateral framework, and in his appearance in front of the press, Sánchez was ambiguous and limited himself to assuring that he will study a new financing model and to recall that the Statute includes a Catalan Tax Agency ” which is to be developed”.
It remains to be seen how this whole matter ends up materializing, but the commitments made yesterday attest to the fact that the appointment of a little over an hour and a quarter was more work than formal. Even so, Aragonès was impetuous, without pretense, in the face of the possibility of a self-determination referendum that Sánchez has denied time and time again. Also yesterday. Nevertheless, the republican recalled that “the rejection of the referendum is a position taken by the Spanish Government (…), but there was also a red line for amnesty and today it is a reality”.
Despite the reluctance of the Aragonese and Esquerra Government regarding the PSOE and the Central Executive, today there is greater confidence. The independentists often criticize the failures of the socialists, but in recent weeks agreements sealed in the previous legislature have materialized, such as the transfer of 60 million for the audiovisual hub in Sant Adrià de Besòs, or the investment for infrastructure improvements in the Maresme, which have helped tighten the bonds a hair.
Aragonès and Sánchez inaugurated the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer in the morning, installed in the Supercomputing Center-National Center for Supercomputing. The president of the Generalitat then formally received the head of the Spanish Government at the gates of Palau, in front of some shouts from those gathered for the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), on the one hand, and Vox, on the other. The two presidents repeated the greeting in the Gothic gallery, in a more cordial tone.
Once inside the Chamber of Deputies, where they met, Aragonès presented Sánchez with the trilogy in Catalan made up of the books Permagel, Boulder and Mamut, by Eva Baltasar.
It is the fourth meeting held by Sánchez and Aragonès, whether in Moncloa or the Palau de la Generalitat. Two in 2021, in June and September, another in July 2022, and the one yesterday, in which the yellow flower in the shape of a pin that the Catalan president wore on the three other occasions in support of those convicted and prosecuted by process has not disappeared. The amnesty has not been approved yet.
The Catalan Government’s decision to remove the Spanish flag before the President of the Generalitat appeared before the media also remained unchanged. History was repeated on September 15, 2021, the date of the first meeting between the two presidents.
In any case, yesterday’s face-to-face had a preview that anticipated the good harmony that the two governments are now processing. Thus, the day before, the Central Government sealed the transfer of 1,600 million euros until 2030 to increase the staff of the Mossos d’Esquadra by 3,000 more. It is yet another sign of the understanding exhibited by the two governments, and also a sign that the appointment with Aragonès will not serve as a warm-up for Sánchez for the one he has today with Alberto Núñez Feijóo in Congress, which is undoubtedly expected to be rough .
“The relationship I had with Feijóo when he was president of the Xunta de Galicia is not the same as I have now”, remarked Sánchez, also implying that the media and economic powers “have made him change his opinion”. “I extend my hand to the head of the opposition to reach agreements, but it is not admissible” that the PP “states that it is prepared to block” the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), he added from Barcelona.
Sánchez had a pleasant day yesterday, marked by the lunch he had with the first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa. The appointment with Feijóo points in the opposite direction.
