Beyond the amnesty there is the referendum. Pere Aragonès did not miss the opportunity offered by the absolute majority of the PP in the Senate to present the new ERC roadmap, in which, once the hurdle of the judicial consequences of the pro-independence process has been overcome, the course is redirected to a consultation that is not only legal, unlike what happened on 1-O, but also “possible and necessary to resolve the sovereignty conflict” between Catalonia and the State.
In the middle of the electoral pre-campaign, the president dared to enter the territory most hostile to the parties that, like his, support the central government and yesterday he took advantage of the general commission of the Autonomous Communities as a speaker to expose the debate with the barons popular his program, which calls, in parallel, for “singular” funding for Catalonia.
“They said it was impossible and overnight the amnesty is already a reality”, was the argument that the president of the Generalitat used to claim an agreed referendum, despite the fact that the Government of Pedro Sánchez – and, together with him, the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa – dismisses the possibility because he does not see that it fits constitutionally.
In the absence of the socialist regional presidents and members of the Executive in the Upper House, the president became the antagonist of the opposition, led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso from Madrid, who, together with Jorge Azcón from Aragon, she was, following the usual script, the most vehement defending the positions of the PP.
The roll of the popular group in the Senate was used to approve, without altering a comma, its devastating report against the amnesty, but, apart from the predictable result of the vote, the interest of the session lay in seeing how the Aragonès’ will to “troll” the PP into its institutional fiefdom.
The president regretted that a “political question” such as the desire for independence was answered “through repression” in October 2017 and, seven years later, advocated opening a new stage of negotiation with those who today reject a referendum as they opposed the amnesty yesterday: “Facilitating citizens to vote and exercise democracy can never be a crime. Let the Catalans decide freely, without impositions”, exclaimed an Aragonese who resorted to epic rhetoric to promise that he will defend Catalonia “where necessary” from “beatings” and “mistreatment”.
But these words had no effect on the president of the Community of Madrid, who, with the Andalusian Juanma Moreno Bonilla absent, personally led the offensive of the PP against this “suit tailored to independence” which, he said, it’s the Amnesty law.
Ayuso focused his speech on attributing all the evils of the political situation to Sánchez and Aragonès, with whom he maintained a duel without the possibility of a reply: “The amnesty breaks us all. To you too, gentlemen of the PSOE”, said the Madrid president, who accused Moncloa of “whitewashing the criminal plan dreamed up by ETA”.
In fact, for the Madrid leader, the Government of Pedro Sánchez propitiates, with the amnesty, that the State “begs for forgiveness from the criminals who tried to destroy it with everyone’s money”.
