Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s investiture speech was adjusted to the expected script. Namely: he deserves to be president because he has won the elections and will not betray Spain as Pedro Sánchez will do with the independentists. The popular strategy is to exaggerate to the maximum the dependence of the PSOE on its partners and that is why he spoke of dignity, honesty and integrity and did not hesitate to mix Felipe VI himself in the equation by stating that, if the amnesty is approved, “it is put in question the King’s intervention in 2017”, alluding to his critical speech against the independence movement after the referendum. This is called playing hard.
Feijóo did not take a minute to express the amnesty in his speech. He bought and made his own all the bravado launched these days by the Catalan independentists who not only take the achievement of the amnesty for granted, but are demanding the holding of the independence referendum. The Cainite fight between ERC and Junts to appear to be more pro-independence pro-black gives ammunition to the PP to maintain its thesis that Sánchez is going to sell the country.
The reality is very different. If there is an agreement, we will have to see what amnesty we are talking about and how many people it will affect. And it does not seem that the PSOE is going to close this pact if there is no clear and explicit will from Junts and ERC to comply with current legislation. But we are not on this screen. The story that has made a fortune today and is assumed by a good part of the published opinion is that the independentistas are going to achieve their objectives and “will do it again” whenever they feel like it.
Junts and ERC have won the lottery with the current parliamentary arithmetic. They have a unique opportunity that can benefit them, but, depending on how they play their cards, the PSOE will not be able to accept everything and may be forced to hold new elections. The independentistas should also make political and ethical concessions, since they too made a mistake in the strategy of the process and it is time for them to clearly recognize it just at the moment in which the past is wiped clean. Anyway, don’t make everything even more difficult if you don’t want to ruin the hypothetical agreement.
