Fed up within the PSOE with the paralysis of the investiture: "There is a desire for this to happen now, it is getting tiresome"

«And now let's see, we have to be careful that they can ask us about the amnesty». The phrase was recently uttered by a socialist official after a meeting and in the expectation that there would be journalists at the door ready to ask questions.. The scene summarizes how the PSOE experiences the long waiting period for the hypothetical proclamation of Pedro Sánchez. The logjam in the negotiation on the amnesty, and therefore the investiture – for which there is not even a scheduled date yet – is causing wear and tear, but also a dose of fatigue within the PSOE.. Three months have passed since the general elections, 20 days since the socialist leader was proposed by the King as a candidate, the weeks go by…. and the amnesty eclipses everything. It monopolizes the debate, the questions, the answers, the silences.

“There is a desire for this to happen now, it is getting heavy”; «the month of Feijóo was heavy, but this one is also getting long»; “in the end, we are going to have a long time”. This is the feeling of socialist officials and leaders consulted by this newspaper.. Although everyone's priority is that there be a Government, that Pedro Sánchez repeats in La Moncloa and shows understanding with the “complexity” of the dialogue, the truth is that practically since July 23, because the failed investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo did not achieve divert the focus, everything has been monopolized by the PSOE's negotiations with ERC and Junts on the amnesty.

A bogged down dialogue, which delays the times planned and desired by Sánchez, due to the frictions over the story of the process – the independentists see it as something legitimate because “voting is democracy”, the socialists as a “collective failure” -; the fugitive Carles Puigdemont's demand for an international mediator/verifier due to his distrust of the socialist candidate's promises; or the need for a gesture on the part of Junts, since the PSOE cannot, at least for the moment, express its renunciation of unilateralism. A reset of deadlines that lengthens uncertainty, also within the party, and the feeling that “it's taking too long.”

«Everything is under the umbrella of amnesty and investiture. There are no headlines for anything else, nor for initiatives, management, proposals…”, is the thinking of territorial officials and leaders consulted by this newspaper.. «It occupies the entire political and media agenda. There is no more story ». There is some unease about the fact that our own initiatives, the sale of management or the work of opposition to the PP-Vox governments do not have the desired echo. “It's not talked about”; “Nothing or very little is said,” they lament from some territories.. Now Israel's war with Hamas steals even more prominence, competing with the amnesty. “Instead of our own thing, we have to talk about this,” they add.

In the party, yes, there are also sectors that do not express concern and point out that “the deadlines are to be used in their entirety – in reference to the fact that there is time until November 27 – and that “it is not about extending, but about reach an agreement”. “We have complete confidence in Pedro,” says a territorial leader. There is barely a month left until the deadline expires and if a candidate does not gather the majority in Congress, elections will have to be called for January 14.

Disappointment because the amnesty “occupies the entire political agenda”

The feeling within the PSOE, where only a few people who can be counted on the fingers of one hand have information, is that it seemed that everything would go faster. They refer to the optimism that emerged in the socialist leadership at the start of the political course, and to the public statements made in those weeks and the subsequent ones.. “There is no time to lose”; “We have been paralyzed for a month, the sooner we put [the support] in place, the better”; «Spain is not here to waste time»; “Spain can no longer be on standby.”. These are just some of the reflections that they conveyed from the socialist ranks.

Those who are aware of the negotiations, however, continue to show confidence that “there will be a Government” and, despite the fact that the specter of a repeat election has become more present in recent days, as a result of the impasse in the negotiation, they continue to bet there will be investiture. “We are working hard for a royal investiture,” they say when asked about the passing of the weeks.. The argument is that now, unlike Feijóo, it is possible to add a majority. And that takes as long as necessary.. “There is no rush, the important thing is that there is agreement”. “Elections? No no. We don't want to,” they respond.. «This conflict [the process] comes from behind. “It is not solved in a few weeks.”

“The negotiation can derail at any moment,” they fear

But time passes, the explanations and pedagogy promised about the investiture are delayed, and uncertainty is taking flight.. «This type of agreement costs a lot. The negotiations are difficult, of course, but we also know that Puigdemont is not reliable,” says the leader of an important socialist federation.. That “the negotiation can derail at any moment” is a thesis shared by many.

The officials and leaders of the PSOE know that every time they have to go before the media, the axis is the amnesty. But the bunkerization ordered from La Moncloa means that there is no information, everything is rather an act of faith. “It will be a fully constitutional agreement” and “the negotiation will be within the constitutional framework,” the socialist officials and leaders repeat these days, while acknowledging that they are not aware of the negotiations.. “Since you don't know, you can't start defending what you don't know or say what you don't know if they want you to say or if you can say,” says a prominent socialist leader.. “People are expectant, nobody knows anything,” observes another territorial leader. «Now it's easy, you refer to when there is an agreement. But then we will have to talk,” says a third.

Because one of the most critical and delicate moments will be, if there is an agreement with ERC and Junts, when the fine print about the amnesty is known.. “Then we will all talk”; “then we will have to speak out”; “We'll talk when we know what we're talking about.”. And, perhaps, opinions, as happened with the suppression of sedition and the reduction of embezzlement, are not unanimous and the internal seams may become strained. Or not. Maybe there is no internal surge. It remains to wait. The calendar continues counting days.