“I’m happy”, remarked Pedro Sánchez, several times, in front of the PSOE federal executive who gathered yesterday in Ferraz to celebrate the “indisputable” electoral victory of Salvador Illa and analyze the political scenario that opens on 12- M .
Despite the complexity of the path that the PSC’s aspirant to the presidency of the Generalitat will now undertake, the head of the Executive assured that he will have free hands to negotiate his investiture in Catalonia, without internal interference to try to avoid Junts or ERC are tempted to dynamite their mandate in Spain. “We want to make one issue clear at the outset: the Government of Catalonia will decide in Catalonia, not in Madrid or anywhere else”, said the spokeswoman for the PSOE executive, Esther Peña, to echo the words of Sánchez at Ferraz’s appointment. “And Salvador Illa has all our confidence to pilot this process”, he assured.
Already before the 12-M, the PSOE management stressed that Illa would have a free track to try to win his investiture, despite the impact that a change of position of Junts or ERC could have in the current legislature in Spain , pending, to begin with, the approval of new general State budgets for next year.
And yesterday, with even more reason once the uncertainty of the electoral result was clarified, the PSOE insisted on this clear message to Junts and ERC, at the request of Sánchez. “The Government of Catalonia will be decided in Catalonia, Salvador Illa will be the president of Catalonia and he will lead the negotiations that will make it possible”, reiterated Peña. The PSC candidate, he stressed, is “the only one with real options” to be president and form an Executive in Catalonia.
“There is no other possibility”, corroborate other leaders of the PSOE executive. “But there is a lot of fabric left to cut”, they admit. And they prescribe: “Patience”.
Sánchez, in any case, was “very confident in the governability” of Catalonia, and that Illa will achieve this shared goal. He also trusts that there will be no deadlock and, therefore, the Catalan elections will not be repeated. The process, however, as assumed by Ferraz, will not be quick. To begin with, they believe that it is necessary to leave time for ERC to “restore the results” of the polls and thus end up facilitating the investiture of Illa, as it already facilitated, on two occasions, that of Sánchez.
The electoral result is “a major shock” for ERC, they warn the PSOE: “They have many things to reformulate”, they admit. However, Ferraz’s spokeswoman also trusted that the possible pacts that Illa can achieve in Catalonia will not undermine Sánchez’s mandate in Spain, which requires the essential support of Junts and ERC.
“We understand that the results of these elections will not have any repercussions on governance,” Peña alleged. “The PSOE reached governance agreements with many parties, also with Junts and ERC. The PSOE complies with its agreements and I have no doubt that the rest will do the same”, he stated.
With an argument: “There is no other alternative to President Sánchez”. Only a PP Government with the extreme right of Vox. “Therefore, no doubt about the continuity of a Government that is at full capacity and has three and a half years ahead of it, with an intense and intensive legislative agenda”, he concluded.
The leadership of the PSOE conveyed its “greatest respect” for Pere Aragonès’ decision not to take up his seat in Parliament and leave the first political line. But he sued ERC not to rip up the cards. “There are many things that unite us to improve the quality of life of Catalans. Let’s give him time, take it easy,” Peña asked. “We are convinced that Esquerra will play a decisive role”, he assured about the participation of the republicans in a process that leads to the investiture of Illa.
Peña rejected the scenario of an electoral repeat in Catalonia after warning that one of the lessons that needed to be drawn from 12-M is that “those who block are penalized, in all areas”. And he invited ERC to dialogue with Illa. “The left undoubtedly has a lot to say, we share many solutions and recipes to improve the lives of Catalans”, he insisted. “And I am convinced that we will be able to reach a satisfactory agreement”, she confided, so that a new Government can be put in place.
“It has to come out. It has to come out because that’s what Catalan society has dictated,” he said.
