“Verification, between political parties that start from such distant positions, can help,” Pedro Sánchez acknowledged regarding the intermediation agreed upon in his investiture pact to open the negotiation with Junts per Catalunya. It is the first time that he refers to the positive work that in his opinion the figure of the verifier agreed between the PSOE and Carles Puigdemont’s party can play. This is how the President of the Government stated himself, in an informal conversation with the journalists who accompanied him on the tour of the Middle East with which he started his new mandate, and in which he met yesterday with Netanyahu and advocated for recognition of the Palestinian State.
Sánchez has recognized that there is “great distrust” between the PSOE and Junts, so this intermediary agreed between both parties can be beneficial in being able to consolidate, during the course of the new legislature, a relationship that was very damaged after the acceleration of the independence process in Catalonia in 2017, which culminated in Puigdemont’s escape from Spanish justice.
Regarding the agreements that allowed the investiture pact with Junts, and particularly the future amnesty law that has unleashed a harsh offensive from the right, Sánchez has insisted that they are already public, and it can thus be seen that they do not go beyond the constitutional framework. “I guarantee that we will always comply with the Constitution,” he reaffirmed.
The head of the Executive has insisted on defending his agenda of dialogue, negotiation and agreement with the Catalan independence groups. “We have to aspire to solve the problem of Catalonia,” he claimed. “Although it is very difficult, today the situation is much better in Catalonia,” he assured. And he has pointed out that his commitment to this avenue of dialogue is even giving him electoral returns. “They said it penalized us, and we have a million more votes,” he indicated, alluding to the results that the socialists achieved in the general elections. “The only ones who have a project for Catalonia and Spain are those of us in the Government, and not the PP,” he alleged.
Sánchez has ruled out that the fiery debate on the amnesty for those accused of the process could imply wear and tear for the newly formed Executive. “We have four years ahead of us,” he assured. “Today no one reproaches me for the pardons,” he added, in reference to the pardons that he granted in the last legislature to imprisoned pro-independence leaders.
“One of our obligations is to establish normality in Catalonia, and in the end we are all going to benefit,” the president said about an amnesty that, he has implied, will also make things easier in the future for the Popular Party. “There are debates that have their intensity, but in the end it will be good for politics,” he justified. And regarding the impact that the Catalan issue will have on this new legislature that is now starting, he has expressed confidence: “Keep calm, and carry on,” he has ironically stated.
The head of the Executive, in any case, has denounced the attitude of the right, which is triggering the political tension of the new legislature with its opposition to the amnesty in the streets and in the institutions. “There is a kind of asymmetric polarization since I have been president,” he has criticized, in reference to the PP and the far-right of Vox. “They fuel polarization to the point of insulting me and saying that I am a dictator and I have a mental illness. “They fuel polarization, and then they criticize polarization,” he criticized.
“It gives the impression that Vox has won the ideological contest against the PP. The problem is not Vox, but the parasitization of the PP’s speech. If Abascal says that I am a psychopath, Feijóo says that I have a mental illness,” he lamented. “But the problem is not Puigdemont or the amnesty, but rather that there will be four more years of progressive government,” he argued.
Sánchez has stated, in this sense, that if the PSOE goes forward, in its opinion, the PP would go backwards. “We have evolved, we started governing with Podemos, and now we do it with Sumar. The PP, on the other hand, has regressed, from Ciudadanos to Vox,” he added. “There has been an evolution in the political system, with a PSOE that now agrees with Sumar, and a reversal of the PP, which now embraces Vox. And that explains the tone of both parties,” he concluded, after reiterating that the socialists are going to “respond with moderation to their insults.”
The PP announced this week that it will once again mobilize in the streets on the eve of the 45th anniversary of the Constitution, the first weekend of December. Furthermore, all the barons of the PP have demanded that Sánchez hold a meeting of the conference of presidents.
The protests against the amnesty in Ferraz continue to decline, with about 600 attendees last night, when 21 uninterrupted days of mobilizations were completed and on the eve of the general strike called by the Vox Solidarity union. This Thursday, agents of the Provincial Brigade reported the arrest of four people, including the delegate in Madrid of the far-right National Democracy party, Pablo Lucini, for the disturbances caused by protests in recent days. With these, there are now 81 people arrested in the three weeks of protests against the amnesty for those accused of the ‘procés’.