Salvador Illa bet yesterday in front of a few journalists that there will be no repeat election, although his party acknowledges that investing him as president will not be an easy task and it will be weeks before the situation becomes clear.
At the moment, a battle of stories prevails. That of Junts, with Puigdemont claiming an investiture that does not add up, and that of the Socialists, who need the ERC competition to make Illa president. The PSC gathered their reasons: the first, the “historic” victory in votes and seats; the second, that independence has lost its absolute majority; the third, that Junts is wrong with the “threat” of bringing down the Government of Spain if it does not achieve the governability of Catalonia, and the fourth and momentous, that what they now expect from ERC is that it invest Island
In a press conference from the socialist headquarters, the spokesperson of the party, Núria Parlon, called yesterday to the “principle of reality” which in her opinion gave the ballot boxes before the will of Carles Puigdemont to try the investiture. “The citizens have said that it is up to Illa to lead the change in Catalonia and the new stage of coexistence”, pointed out the spokeswoman, and despite the fact that the PSC is ready to talk to all political forces, except for Vox and Aliança Catalana, it claims for his candidate the role of investiture.
To achieve this, Parlon invoked the progressive forces with which it would be possible for Illa to assume the presidency – ERC and the commons -, especially ERC, recalling the role of extended hand that Illa has practiced in Parliament during the legislature, after the exit of Government Boards. “We have always been close to weaving agreements that guaranteed governability, as in the budgets (…) We have always shown a collaborative attitude with the Government so that Catalonia moves forward”, and when the Government broke up “we worked for stability”; therefore, “it is what we expect from ERC”, that “at least it does not block the PSC from being able to start this new stage”.
In this way, the PSC demands reciprocity from the Republicans in the face of the reluctance expressed yesterday by Pere Aragonès, who left governance in the hands of Junts and the Socialists.
The PSC is clear that the left-wing pact is the only way out that would avoid an electoral repeat that “the citizens would not like”. “It’s the best way to make this country progress”, Parlon pointed out, but “it won’t be the tripartite we remember”, they assure the party leadership. On the contrary, it doesn’t even occur to them to accept the path proposed by Puigdemont: to abstain in order to facilitate his investiture.
“We are ready to reach agreements, symmetrical, asymmetrical…, but we will not make Puigdemont president even if he threatens to overthrow the central government”, concluded the spokeswoman. “Perhaps Spain is better suited to a right-wing government?”, he questioned rhetorically.
The attitude of the ex-president claiming the presidency in exchange for the stability of the Spanish legislature was welcomed in the PSC with disbelief. In the party they call for “memory” and “coherence”. They remember that independence has lost a million votes, that Junts has only won three more deputies, that ERC has lost 13 and reprimand Puigdemont for now calling for “stability” to justify a pact with ERC later of having broken the Government.
The same “coherence” and “integrity” that they recognize in Aragonès for the decision to leave the first political line they claim in Puigdemont, and warn him that conditioning the Spanish legislature on the governability of Catalonia “is a mistake and an inconsistency”.
“We have room”, say the socialists, to test Illa’s investiture, for which they have appointed a negotiating commission led by the deputy first secretary, Lluïsa Moret, and which will have the mission of trying to convince ERC.
The PSC wants to start contacts as soon as possible. Even if there is another appointment with the polls on June 9, the European elections, the following day the Parliament will be constituted and then the eventual agreement that should allow the Island to be invested should be advanced. The formula does not necessarily have to be a problem: “In coalition or in minority”, they accept. They will respect the decision taken by ERC.
