From Funding to Referendum: ERC and Junts Changing Conditions for Sanchez’s Investment

The Catalan independence movement got its worst election result on Sunday since the beginning of the republic practical, But still come back To play a major role for the future of the legislature. The 14 MPs that make up the ERC and Junts are in their hands That Pedro Sanchez continues at La Moncloa And now they are preparing to press that advantage, after a campaign in which the focus has been on stressing that they are not interested in the possibility of ruling Spain. To the already known inconsistency about the course of dialogue with the central government is now added how to make this unexpected capacity for influence profitable. The list of demands has been revised by both parties and includes everything from ending the “fiscal deficit” in Catalonia to a request to devolve the power to call referendums. The two formations agree on one thing: they call for rebuilding the separatist unity of action that has been lost since 2017.

The parliamentary majority that would allow Sanchez to continue in La Moncloa in coalition with Somar depended on the ERC voting in his favour, and Jontes abstained, at least, in the second vote. At ERC, it bothers us that, being part of the recent legislature’s agreement, their support is taken for granted again. Candidate Gabriel Ruffian again insisted Sunday night on his three conditions for facilitating a progressive executive position recurrence: “End deficits and Rodales hell [la red ferroviaria de Cercanías en Cataluña]And that no one ever gets up from the negotiating table.”

This list of three conditions came in the last phase of the campaign and after weeks of prodding from Ruffian For the rest of the pro-independence formations to agree jointly The “price” of PSOE and Sumar support if there is a computational possibility. Ruffian said the price should be “higher”. Miriam Nogueiras, the Junts’ party candidate, waited almost until the end of the campaign to say the price for Junts in the face of a final inauguration was to transfer the power to call referendums to Catalonia. The CUP, which had lost representation in Congress, argued for the same in its day, accusing Republicans, like Nogueras, every day of giving up their votes “for nothing”.

However, Junts now uses the nuances of language to present himself as a demanding actor without closing the possibility of negotiation. In his Sunday speech, Nogueras was less specific about the status of devolution over calling referendums — he didn’t even utter that word — and Carles Puigdemont himself did not mention the possibility of consulting self-determination in a long tweet where he commented on the results of 23-J. The president had said on July 16: “Sanchez will not be president because of the votes of Yontes.” previous president fled in Belgium. But this Monday, the party’s number two, Jordi Turol, pleaded at RAC-1 that “the independence movement cannot miss an opportunity like this.”

So, the Junts haven’t yet brushed off the all-or-nothing “yes-or-yes referendum,” and the ERC briskly talks about “not getting up from the table.” Both groups take it for granted that they want to pardon those still accused of crimes practical and the self-determination referendum. “It is Pedro Sánchez who has to say what he is willing to do. The task must come from whoever needs you,” insisted Turol, who was wary at this time about the possibility of reaching an agreement with the PSOE leader: “With what Pedro Sánchez said, with what he spoke of the independence movement, with what he does not wish to do, I don’t see the inauguration anywhere now,” he noted, before reaffirming the terms.

The independence referendum was the big red line for Pedro Sánchez, who has actively and passively denied that it happened. There is also a big elephant in the room: Puigdemont mode. His chest puffed up by the social tension in Catalonia, Sanchez went so far as to say on the campaign trail that he would not be able to afford it previous president It is no longer a “problem” to become tale”. Turol gloated that the current situation showed the independence movement was “still alive” and ruled out the search for a solution ad hoc to the former head of government. “If there is an amnesty and no referendum is held, the political conflict is not resolved,” he said.

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Also on the table, albeit for very different reasons, is the future of Laura Porras. The next head of government will have to solve He asked for pardon from the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia He had already announced that he would seek the prison sentence imposed by the same court on the former Speaker of Parliament for the crimes of evasion and falsehood. The PSOE denied that it would award it and the Supreme Court has not ruled on the appeal.

As for the ERC, the Republicans want to defend the benefit of their votes also to impose other achievements such as improving the financing of Catalonia, and putting an end to the so-called “fiscal deficit”. This is a controversial concept with which the Generalitat asserts that in 2019, according to its data and using the cash flow mechanism (which only counts spending when it is implemented), the community stopped receiving 20,196 million euros, equivalent to 8.5% of regional GDP. The ERC also demands the transfer of the Rodalies but with guarantees that the arrears will be paid. Junts see this as “autonomy” and “crumbs”.

“Their legs won’t shake,” Nogueras insists, in defense of his plan. The ERC and Junts also agree that, to date, the PSOE has not been clear in its proposal to resolve what the three parties describe as a “political conflict” in Catalonia. For now, Junts leaves another hot potato: Clara Ponsati arrested for violating a Supreme Court request to appear weeks agoWhich Puigdemont confronted about his plan on the “road of exile”, will cause some voices to criticize for negotiating with those who “oppress”.

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