The PSOE and Junts delegations sat down yesterday for the first time to negotiate with an international mediator, the Salvadoran diplomat Francisco Galindo Vélez. The meeting took place in the Swiss city of Geneva or its surroundings, in a location that did not happen, and was headed by former president Carles Puigdemont, on behalf of JxCat, and by the number three of the Socialists, Santos Cerdán, organization secretary and Pedro Sánchez’s most trusted person. The meeting was also attended by the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, the spokeswoman for the formation in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, and Cerdán a Ferraz’s right-hand man, Juan Francisco Serrano.
These are the same teams that sealed the agreement for the re-election of Sánchez at the beginning of November. In the afternoon, when the meeting had already ended, both formations issued a statement in which they pointed out that they had met “in a cordial and working atmosphere”, to “give continuity to the agreement that led to the investiture” . “Progress has continued”, they affirmed.
The meeting, the first of the agreed negotiation space -with the support of the Henry Dunant Foundation-, was held in the presence of this Salvadoran diplomat, former ambassador of his country to France and Colombia, and former representative of the UNHCR in several countries.
Therefore, Galindo Vélez will coordinate the international mechanism that forms part of the agreement initialed in Brussels by Turull and Cerdán. Both formations thanked him “for his commitment to make his experience available to the parties and his willingness to contribute to reaching a political and negotiated solution to the conflict”.
Although from the PSOE they are talking about a “work meeting” – as Cerdán said yesterday -, for Junts the appointment represents a paradigm shift and establishes “very solid bases in relation to the political conflict”, according to the its vice-president and spokesperson, Josep Rius, at RNE.
At the outset, the PSOE and Junts agree on the initial premise. For the negotiation to flourish and be fruitful, there must be discretion. In a recent interview with this newspaper, Turull said that “as long as there is media pressure”, the negotiation “will not work”.
The idea of ??both organizations was to brush off the media pressure and not transcend the day or the place of the meeting. At least, that’s how they expressed themselves in public in the days before. However, word emerged this week that the date would be in Geneva throughout the day yesterday, and both Cerdán and Nogueras were caught by the press on Friday night at the airport as they arrived in the Swiss city . In fact, the pro-sovereignist leader was scolded by some Spanish citizens who joined her at the airport.
Before returning to Spain, Cerdán explained yesterday that the meeting, which lasted for many hours, had gone well. And no other appointment is expected before the end of the year.
In this forum, JxCat wants to propose to the socialists the holding of a referendum through article 92 of the Constitution and a new financing system for Catalonia. The initial position of the PSOE is different.