Three minutes. Between 8:15 a.m. and 8:18 a.m., the PSOE added the seven votes of ERC and the seven of Junts, necessary and more than enough for Francina Armengol to be president of Congress, guarantee the majority “of progress” in the Chamber and continue advancing in the investiture negotiations. Three “heart-stopping” minutes, according to one of the pro-independence negotiators, to put a full stop to a new image: Carles Puigdemont negotiating on the front line with the PSOE. The former president “did not want to look at it from the sidelines,” explained Jordi Turull at the express meeting of the Junts executive and has set the conditions for him to play the game.
Once the agreement was confirmed, the acting Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolaños, took a breath and started a new hidden struggle between independentistas over who is now the “botifler” for negotiating with the Socialists. The republican Joan Tardà passed accounts in public. “Friends of JxCat, welcome to the politics of the ERC independentistas ‘nyorda’, ‘traitor’ and ‘botiflera’, obviously.”
The ERC negotiation had to be fluid. The teams know each other and the three years of collaboration in Congress and between governments facilitated understanding. It was convenient for the PSOE to fix the story that, like Bildu, ERC granted its votes without too much consideration. The Republicans revolted and after a few days of exchanging messages, on Thursday, August 10, Teresa Jordà and Rafael Simancas sat face to face in Congress.
Simancas is the interlocutor of the Socialists on logistical issues and the ERC deputy reminds him that there are “political” demands to accompany the 152 votes of PSOE and Sumar in the constitution of the Table. The use of Catalan in Congress, the reactivation of the Pegasus commission and the processing of the amnesty bill.
“We fine-tune the mayor issues, but not the political ones,” the Republicans admit. That Thursday there is no answer, but the problem “is raised” to the political negotiators. On Friday, Bolaños assumes a leading role. The socialist thesis is that political issues will not be addressed in the negotiation of the Table, but ERC cannot loosen up. Junts’ silence pressures and passively drags the Republicans.
The PSOE begins to move but in ERC they are clear: “it is not enough”. “Step by step” you get to Wednesday of this week. Sánchez commits himself at the meeting of the PSOE parliamentary group to promote the use of the co-official languages ??in the European institutions. He is not responding to a demand from ERC, but from MEP Puigdemont.
Sánchez’s announcement occupies the headlines but makes ERC uncomfortable. The number two of Esquerra, Marta Rovira, remembers that this was a commitment from last summer at the dialogue table. An unfulfilled commitment. “We have bad experiences,” they say. In ERC they admit that work had been done but that the Kaili case (the former vice president of the European Parliament implicated in a Qatari bribery scandal in December) slows down the issue despite the efforts.
New advances are confirmed on Wednesday afternoon. At 8:00 p.m. there are more possibilities than at 6:00 p.m. but “we need more”. “We are not only asking for Catalan in Europe. Catalan is threatened here by themselves”, stresses an ERC negotiator.
In search of a last impulse ERC publicly warns that the agreement is not closed and that it is “reckless” to take their votes for granted. Progress is being made in the recognition of Catalan and it is accepted to recover the commission on espionage with Pegasus, but the Socialists drag their feet in the demand for dismissal.
Shortly before midnight, a pleasing proposal from the PSOE arrives at the ERC headquarters. They already have the background. Republicans only correct “more appropriate” nuances and expressions. In the chat of the Republicans’ instant messaging service Signal, created expressly for the entire negotiation under the name “Negociació grups parlamentaris”, optimism begins to shine.
The definitive offer arrived yesterday at 8:15 in the morning and was distributed among the leadership at 8:23. In Esquerra there is enthusiasm, with a team that for days had seen an agreement that rivaled that of Junts difficult. “I’ve had a bad night,” admits a Republican negotiator with an air of relief.
ERC is the first to set foot on one of the great issues of the independence movement and ties the commitment for the “definitive removal of judicial proceedings” by “all necessary legal channels”. To win the story from Junts in this regard, Oriol Junqueras, from Prada de Conflent, quickly and quickly extends his hand to those of Puigdemont to negotiate it.
Backstage the discrepancy is agreed. ERC will read “amnesty law” and the PSOE will look for another term. The concretion will come in the negotiation of the investiture. Jaume Asens, appointed by Sumar for contacts with republicans and post-convergents, has theorized on the matter. He offered himself to the Republicans but ERC did not want intermediaries. However, contacts have been maintained with Sumar, with Bildu and with the PNV.
Also with Together? Rovira notifies Turull of the agreement before making it public. Turull maintains secrecy: he does not advance anything to his ERC counterpart. “Can’t”. Until the vote has been taken. In the last hours there are contacts between them. Rovira even raises the possibility that if the negotiation fails they could coordinate the response. But discarded the common front to advance, it was also discarded to stay on the defensive.
At 8 a.m. Turull appears before the Junts executive electronically. Puigdemont does not connect. He is not part of that party organ. But the general secretary reports that the negotiations have been “led” by the former president in the hands of Turull, Laura Borràs, Míriam Nogueras and Josep Lluís Cleries (although Puigdemont’s usual medical team has also worked). Who was on the other side of the table is kept under lock and key. The dialogue has been direct but there are those who point to a modulating role for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Turull informs of the principle of agreement and of the “checks” of compliance. The agreement on Catalan in Congress, the Pegasus commission and an investigation into the attacks of August 17 and 18, 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils have been closed. Pep Guardiola, from Twitter, gives support to the investigation: “Spanish State-Generalitat, we want to know the truth.” But there is a fringe related to Sánchez’s commitment to Catalan in Europe. “We charge in advance,” advises Turull.
That is where the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, comes into play, who registers a letter to the Council of the European Union at 8:18 p.m. asking for the official status of Catalan in the European institutions. The minister’s signature is at 6:47 p.m. Indeed, the night has been long. During the negotiation, Junts rejects an offer from the PSOE to promote a law on official languages. ERC does accept it, and this is stated in the statement announcing their agreement.
There are more gestures along the path that has been traveled in silence. Junts warns that the PSOE candidate to preside over Congress should be “votable” and points out that Francina Armengol would be. The Socialists make the former Balearic president official as a candidate on Tuesday afternoon. And Armengol makes her debut announcing already as president that she will allow the use of the co-official languages. Junts maintains that this phrase is also part of his agreement.
The express meeting of Junts ends without interventions and, “technically”, without communicating the direction of the vote of the “7 of Puigdemont”, but many clarifications were not necessary. The pragmatic sector is satisfied. “Seny and realism prevail.” But they also express a certain unease about the management and the expectations generated.
At 9:26 a.m. in ERC the messages spread: “Together joins our path”, “it seems that negotiating was a good strategy”. “They get on the negotiation bandwagon”, they point out as a summary.
What about self-determination and amnesty? “Protecting the language is a priority,” the Junts negotiators respond. “It’s the nerve of the nation.” The rest is left for the “next battle”. The investiture has two new flying goals: the Diada and September 19, when the Council of the EU must debate whether to process the official status of Catalan.
