ERC asserts its weight against Sánchez and does not guarantee stable support from the legislature

ERC wants to make the PSOE “sweat” and will not agree to close a legislative pact that guarantees four more years for Pedro Sánchez as president, as the socialists intend. The Republicans intend to assert their weight and limit the negotiations to the investiture process of the general secretary of the PSOE and candidate designated by Felipe VI. All this despite the phone call that the acting head of the Executive made to Oriol Junqueras this Wednesday to strengthen his relationship with the Republicans..

The acting president of the Government and socialist candidate for the investiture spoke by telephone this Wednesday with the leader of the Republicans, hours before his meeting with the party's parliamentary spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián. The general secretary of the PSOE reinforces the bridges with one of the key partners of the last legislature, a work that Sánchez himself thanked Junqueras in his call. From ERC they have explained that the call was not intended to unblock any issue in the negotiation, but rather a commitment to “normality” in relations between two “historical and governing” parties..

Despite the good understanding that Sánchez and Junqueras have shown, ERC has poured cold water on the PSOE's claims to reach a stable agreement. “Party by party,” said Rufián in reference to Cholo Simeone's mantra, a way of making it clear to the socialists that the legislature will once again be an obstacle course for the legislative agenda of the future Government, if it ends up taking shape.. The first match, following the football simile of the Catalan politician, is the investiture. And the terms are already known: amnesty, a solution “before a ballot box” to the Catalan conflict, compensation for the “fiscal deficit” suffered by Catalonia and improvements in Rodalies, the Catalan commuter service..

Rufián, like the rest of the Executive's potential partners, has advanced that the next steps of the negotiation will follow the path of discretion.. He did not want to give clues about the point at which the conversation about the amnesty is and has criticized the “verbal incontinence” of other political groups.. It was after a question about the statements of the Minister of the Presidency of the Generalitat, her party colleague Laura Vilagrà.

The Republican spokesperson has tried to divert the weight of the amnesty in the pact and has recalled how there are “two other folders”, in reference to the possible vote in a referendum on the “solution to the political conflict” and purely economic matters.. Regarding the possibility of returning to the polls, Rufián recalled that the commitment reached with the socialists in 2019 already contemplates voting on the agreement that emerges from the dialogue table.. “It has to be in a ballot box,” insisted the Barcelona politician, who sees this possibility as a way to “value” the aforementioned dialogue table..

The thesis that Rufián has defended is that with the “referendum” what has already happened with the amnesty may end up happening, which went from being proscribed to being the key to Sánchez's investiture. “From now on it may stop being a chimera, everything depends on the strength we have,” admitted the ERC spokesperson, who celebrated that his party's participation in the governance of Spain “is no longer a thermometer for to be good or bad Catalan”. The attack on Junts is obvious, since Rufián has celebrated that Carles Puigdemont's team is also in talks with the PSOE.

The conversation with Junqueras

It is not the first time that both leaders have spoken, but the only photo there is of both of them together dates back to 2016, when Sánchez was still the head of the opposition and the events of the process had not escalated.. On this occasion, it was a phone call that paved the way for the meeting that the socialist leader has planned with Gabriel Rufián. In this first round, the leader of the PSOE is trying to establish “the framework”, which will give way to a more concrete negotiation starting next week.

In the conversation, Sánchez “thanked” Junqueras for the support of ERC during the last legislature, although it is true that there were certain votes where the Republicans were left out of the majority, as happened with the labor reform. According to Ferraz sources, the head of the Executive has conveyed to the independence leader that his support made “important political and social advances” possible.. And that is the formula that the PSOE wants to repeat, which is why Sánchez has presented to Junqueras his project for a new mandate with “stability”.

The socialists reveal that both Sánchez and Junqueras have praised the conversation as “a sign of mutual respect and political normality”. And the intention of both leaders is that this relationship continues from now on, although it is the teams of the President of the Government and the leader of ERC who maintain contact.. After this Wednesday's meeting with Rufián, it will be the turn of the negotiators appointed by the socialist general secretary, including María Jesús Montero, Félix Bolaños, Rafael Simancas, Óscar Puente and José Ramón Gómez Besteiro..

The relationship of the PSOE with ERC is well-greased after these years of collaboration and there is consensus that the participation of the Republicans in the governance of Spain is one of the reasons that caused their electoral disaster on 23-J. This data is more relevant if we take into account the competition that ERC maintains with Junts, which better resisted the challenge of the PSC in the general elections.. This bad result has not distanced Junqueras from Sánchez, who, until now, favors the former vice president of the Generalitat over Carles Puigdemont.

According to ERC sources, Junqueras has conveyed to Sánchez “the importance of the advances in political, social and anti-repressive terms” that are the result of the negotiations between PSOE and his party in recent years.. But, at the same time, the president of the independence party has demanded that the socialist make “progress” on the issues that are priorities for his party and thus be able to close an agreement..

Illa in Brussels

For his part, Salvador Illa, leader of the PSC, who spent the day holding various meetings in Brussels, has defended that the negotiation be discreet, reports Nacho Alarcón.. “We like to work with discretion so that things come out, and they have to come out,” he explained to the media.. “When agreements are reached, if they are reached, we will make them known and explain the details of them,” said the Catalan leader when asked about the amnesty.. “Anything that involves agreements in the constitution market, I am going to feel comfortable, outside, no,” he added..

Illa has also been asked about the possibility of a meeting between someone from the Socialist Party with Carles Puigdemont, leader of Junts per Catalunya and MEP, something that she has quickly settled: “With all due respect, I have not come to that”. The leader of the PSC, who was accompanied by MEPs Laura Ballarín and Javi López, held a meeting with Vasco Cordeiro, president of the Committee of the Regions, and with Thierry Breton, commissioner for Internal Market and Industry.