“Look at this chamber. Do you see any alternative to us? Do you see Albert Rivera? Inés Arrimadas? No, right? Don’t risk it.” Gabriel Rufián’s warning this Wednesday to Pedro Sánchez has surprised the PSOE. This has been reflected by Nadia Calviño, Minister of Economy. Sitting next to the candidate for the presidency of the Government, she made a face of astonishment. In the second turn, the leader of ERC in Madrid has lowered his tone and invited the general secretary of the socialists to engage in “politics and negotiation.” Of course, Rufián has made it clear that in this legislature the Republicans have “the ability to force him to end the repression today and to force him, perhaps, to vote in a referendum tomorrow.”
Esquerra will vote in favor of the investiture with the experience of having dealt with the PSOE and its Government with Unidas Podemos. It has obtained some benefits at the dialogue table – pardons, reform of the Penal Code, the clearest ones – but it also has a series of non-materialized agreements that have partly hindered its negotiating role in Catalonia. The Republicans do not want the same situation to be repeated and believe that with Ciudadanos out of the chamber and with only one arithmetic for Sánchez to add majorities, they can achieve more results.
They will do it accompanied by Junts. Rufián has “welcomed” the group led by Míriam Nogueras in Madrid, but not before reproaching them for turning ERC into the “punching bag of many people.” “The only truth is that ERC started playing music and that now many – especially referring to JxCat – are dancing,” said the Republican.
Here he left the reproaches to reach out to those of Jordi Turull and Laura Borràs: “Our commitment is that when the PSOE tries to deceive you, we will never, ever say that it is your fault. We will say that it is the PSOE’s fault. And we will help them to prevent it from happening.”
Some words that have not sat well with Sánchez, who has asked Rufián to recognize his Government’s role in “overcoming the social fracture” and advancing social policies.
Esquerra has arrived at the investiture debate satisfied with the commitments made by Sánchez. The most important, from a political point of view, is the amnesty, the authorship of which he has shared openly with Junts. The transfer of Rodalies is another of the folders. It will be managed by a new public company 50% owned by members of the Generalitat and the other 50% by the central government. Lines R1, R2 and R3 will be the first to be boarded. Republicans hope that over the years the rest of the roads that run through Catalonia will end up being incorporated into shared ownership.
ERC also obtained the reduction of 15,000 million euros corresponding to the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA). It represents 20% of the debt. It is the weakest aspect of the investiture agreement, since Catalonia would hardly have had the will to face it. Of course, the payment of 1.3 billion in interest is avoided.
However, the negotiation for the investiture is now history. For Republicans, the stage of ensuring compliance in every sense now begins.
Be that as it may, Rufián has dedicated a large part of his speech to stoking the right. To the PP. “They have been saying for 46 years that Spain is breaking. It has broken with the PCE, the Constitution, the state of the autonomies, the tripartite, the PSOE-ETA negotiations, the Ibarretxe plan, with the PSOE- Podemos Government, the negotiating table , the pardons, the repeal of sedition, the reform of the Penal Code, the amnesty and because Girona goes first. But every time they say that it was broken, in reality it is that you lost”, he assured.
In turn, the ERC spokesperson in Madrid has accused Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party of encouraging protests in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid and of trying to “barbarize” a society that in reality, in his opinion, “what What matters is eating and that the right does not govern. In fact, Rufián has stressed at various times the difficulties faced by citizens in filling their shopping baskets and has urged progress, above all, in social policies.
