There are 11 days left for the Congress of Deputies to be constituted and the question remains as to whether there will be a majority to appoint a president of the government or whether the elections will be repeated. If we stick to the public gestures of these days, it seems that nobody is in a hurry. But that doesn’t mean it’s not being talked about. As in any work, there are some workers who carry out a discreet job of probing and fixing the starting positions, knowing that there will be reductions in their claims. The question is to know where the limit of the concessions will be placed. It is still too early to find out about those so-called red lines, no matter how much we hear exhaustive and insurmountable positions in the declarative sphere.
The key is in the hands of Junts per Catalunya and, specifically, Carles Puigdemont, although mathematically there is the option that the PP and PSOE agree that Alberto Núñez Feijóo or Pedro Sánchez be elected. But this scenario would be ruled out after the letters that were sent last week. Therefore, Puigdemont’s decision will determine the future government or the dissolution of the Cortes and, therefore, there will be direct dialogue with him. There is much talk about the price that the expresident will put and the “window of opportunity” that has been opened for him, a term that the independence movement coined after 2017. And it is also remembered that Junts has at least two souls: the pragmatic, favorable to the pact, and the most radical, willing to the worse, the better. Puigdemont would not now be in the second block and will give negotiation a chance knowing that his final decision will displease a part of his parish. For its part, the PSOE has a great opportunity to continue politically channeling the conflict in Catalonia and is encouraged by the little noise that followed the pardons and the good electoral yield obtained in Catalonia. These days, aspects of the negotiation have transcended, such as the use of Catalan in Congress or the improvement of financing, but the central issue is how the judicial question of those involved in the process is resolved, starting with Puigdemont. That is the key. The first clue of how the game is going will be seen on the 17th with the election of the presidency and the Table of Congress. Attentive.
