Long before general elections were called in Spain, Pedro Sánchez commissioned his favorite Sherpa, the PSOE organizational secretary, Santos Cerdán, to try to approach Junts in case his support was needed in the future. The serious and discreet Navarrese politician got to work and contacted the Junts leaders about what might happen. Both parties were at opposite ends of the spectrum and the possibility that the pro-independence party could one day give its votes to the PSOE to invest Sánchez seemed like a chimera. But Cerdán was there building bridges just in case.
When the results of 23-J were known and it was discovered that Junts’ seven votes were decisive for governability, it did not take much for the PSOE to know who to call to start negotiating. On the other hand, the popular ones, who were confident that they would not need the votes of the nationalist parties to access the government, found themselves without any reference to attempt even a mere approximation. Thus it is understood that some Catalan businessmen were sought to act as intermediaries – one day we hope to be able to explain this – or a meeting was improvised like the one Lola García disclosed yesterday in the pages of La Vanguardia.
The PP chose yesterday to ignore that meeting, reducing it to “a coffee.” The popular ones are still in the dynamic of considering that an interview with independentists is almost a sin. But it would be good for them if, sooner or later, they accepted that Junts is a valid interlocutor that they may need to ensure governability. Carles Puigdemont did take that meeting seriously and decided to send two of the most trusted people around him, Albert Batet and Josep Rius. According to the PP, it was an unimportant coffee, but their interlocutors conveyed to those of Junts the importance of their votes for the election of the president of the Congress Board for the subsequent investiture.
In short, talking is not a crime and doing it with someone who does not share your same ideas is even intellectually stimulating. Neglecting today those you may need tomorrow is a mistake.