The general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, has made it clear that an amnesty law “is not enough” for the Republicans to vote in favor of the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and, in that sense, she has demanded that the PSOE be able to talk about the referendum at a negotiating table “with guarantees.”
In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio from Geneva, Switzerland, the country where she has resided since she fled from Spanish Justice in 2018, Rovira assured that she is not “pending” whether or not she can return to Spain, in case she could benefit from a possible amnesty.
The number two of ERC has criticized the fact that socialist ranks are trying to pressure the Republicans so that they are “satisfied” with this eventual measure. “This week will be about this, saying that ERC is not reasonable, that now it has a whim and asks for 3,500 things.”
“For me and for ERC, the amnesty is not enough. We do not want to invest Sánchez only with an amnesty,” he warned. “If we recover all the conditions to return to doing politics, let’s do politics. And that means assuming the path of resolution of the conflict and continuing to have the possibility of talking about a referendum.”
After taking the amnesty “for granted”, remembering that for the constitution of the Congress Board the PSOE promised to “end the repression through all legal means”, Rovira has stated that the other conditions involve the question of referendum, the comprehensive transfer of Rodalies and the end of the fiscal deficit.
Asked if there will be an investiture in the event that the PSOE does not accept a referendum, Rovira considered that “the PSOE must assume that there is a political conflict here and, as we agreed in 2019, we must be able to speak, at a table that must be of negotiation and with guarantees, of how voting is done in Catalonia”. “It is a demanding condition, but we think it is absolutely reasonable,” she noted.
The leader has then been questioned about the statements of the PSC leader, Salvador Illa, who closed the door to that referendum: “I will say that I am more socialist than Illa, because as I am a socialist, and also as a socialist I am an independentist, I look out for the social justice in my country. What we ask of Sánchez and Illa is very reasonable: more human rights, more democracy and more progress.”
On the other hand, she has been asked about the words of Carles Puigdemont, who downplayed the political work done by the leader from Geneva, compared to that of the former president from Brussels. “(Politics is made) Only in Brussels? Well, I think not,” said the general secretary of ERC, who in fact has assured that the international “complicities” generated in Switzerland have led to “very important UN resolutions.” .
“We have not stopped breaking ground from the first moment and we have achieved some resolutions after two years of work,” suggested Rovira, who did not want to reveal how long it has been since he spoke with Puigdemont: “Look, I will not answer that question today because my desire is to rebuild trust, rebuild bridges and generate complicity. And I don’t want to do a disservice.”
