Remnants: socialists, podemites, communists, independentistas in different states of mind, nationalists of diverse ideological backgrounds and origins, regionalists… It was the summer of 2016 and, protected by the strong walls of El Escorial where the Complutense courses were held, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba displayed his ingenuity and warned Pedro Sánchez: “What is being proposed is not a left-wing government because, as far as I know, the PNV and CDC are not left-wing, and Esquerra is pro-independence. That doesn’t add up, it would be a Frankenstein investiture.” And he sentenced: “The PSOE cannot do it.” This is how, before being born, the “Frankenstein government” was baptized, for which nobody gave a euro in its beginnings.
“Oh! No mortal could bear the horror of that countenance, ”Mary Schelley writes of the appearance of“ that unfortunate ”whom, in her work, she does not even dare to give a name. It is the “monster” or the “spawn” created by the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein. Sánchez did not like his “creature” either, but he gave it a name, which is the first thing to create an affective bond. And the “progressive coalition government” got going. It has approved its third budgets and faces the final stretch of the legislature. At this point, the president knows that only his reissue will allow him to repeat his mandate.
The path of the government coalition and its parliamentary allies continues to experience acute internal crises. Scarred, she is determined to survive. Perhaps the wound that most resists suturing is that of United We Can. Sánchez has insisted on Yolanda Díaz that she try to reestablish relations with Podemos, that she give up something for the sake of political peace. But the vice president and Pablo Iglesias maintain a brutal pulse that threatens to drag them both into the corner of irrelevance.
The alliance that, a priori, was going to give Sánchez the most trouble, that of ERC, has greased over time. Mutual mistrust persists, but they have been ironed out based on frequent discreet contacts, by phone and in person, to avoid unpleasant surprises. One of the most difficult negotiations, the suppression of the crime of sedition, is already advancing towards its final approval. And there are possibilities of agreeing on the embezzlement reform so that the penalties are lessened in cases in which there is no personal or third-party profit. Although the PSOE does not want to appear as the promoter of this modification, in Moncloa they are in favor of approving it before the end of the year and avoiding possible shocks during 2013 (electoral year), such as the imprisonment of dozens of former ERC charges accused in courts 13 and 18 of Barcelona for the independence process that skidded in 2017.
ERC has been normalizing its relationship with the central government. The departure of Junts from the Catalan Executive has also acted as a balm for the Republicans, who already dare to show their interest in agreeing on the budgets of the Generalitat with the PSC. ERC continues to look askance at Junts. Without clear leadership, out of power and subject to expectations about the future of Carles Puigdemont and his plan to revive the Catalan “insurrection”, the Junts are in total confusion. The weaker Junts is, the more the Republicans’ possible commitment is consolidated.
If before Sánchez handled his pacts with ERC and Bildu with reserve, now he no longer hides that it is an alliance with the will to be stable and lasting. Even Moncloa has managed to bridle any dissonance in the PSOE (except for the two usual dissenters in Aragon and Castilla-La Mancha), as was verified in the vote on sedition in Congress by the socialist deputies, standing and loud , in the face of the PP’s attempt to encourage internal rebellion. Alberto Núñez Feijóo once again emphasizes Sánchez’s pacts with the independence movement, at the risk of feeding Vox.
The “spawn” continues on its way with less complexes. “Be careful, for I know no fear, and therefore I am powerful,” Shelley wrote. There is more than a year left for the generals and everything can be broken by any of its weak points, which are not few. The big question will be whether Frankenstein has already ceased to inspire terror. As in some versions of the classic, it is possible that even Rubalcaba would have appreciated the “monster”.
