Pedro Sanchez and Pere Aragonès They met this Friday for almost two hours after 10 months without meeting. From the meeting came the call for the dialogue table between the two governments for the last week of July -still without a specific date-, which will be the third since the previous president, Quim Torra, opened this type of dialogue on February 26 of 2020. The previous one was held in Barcelona on September 15, so the one at the end of this month will meet in Madrid, and without the attendance of the two presidents. This was the main agreement of the interview, which can be considered important because some pessimistic forecasts predicted that there would not even be a formal call for the table. The simple call indicates, if the statements made months ago by both governments are to be believed, that concrete agreements will emerge from the table because the meeting had been conditioned on the existence of results.
In the subsequent press conference, Aragonès insisted that “at the next table there must be results.” Sánchez must understand the need to leave behind the delays and uncertainties and begin to specify formal commitments, which would allow ERC to deactivate the pressures to which it is subjected for persevering in the dialogue, and would also serve as a revulsive in the face of fatigue on the part of Catalan society due to the lack of progress. In turn, Aragonès must be aware of what a dialogue table between governments can give of itself, and do not make demands that are beyond your reach. The ‘president’ insinuated that there may be progress in the “dejudicialization” of the political conflict. Both parties seem to understand the end of judicialization differently. What for the Government means distancing justice from politics, for the Generalitat means the review or annulment of the judicial cases opened by the ‘procés’, something that the Government cannot do.
In any case, after the total freezing of political relations by the pegasus casethe fact that both parties have described this Friday’s interview as “positive”, “correct” or “important” and “respectful” is a sign that the relationship between the central government and the Generalitat –and between the PSOE and the ERC– has been restoredAnd that alone should be cause for satisfaction.
To achieve this climate, howeveror, the most contentious issues were left aside and neither the possible reform of the crime of sedition nor the situation of the ‘ex-president’ Carles Puigdemont was addressed after the general advocate of the Court of Justice of the European Union has supported the Spanish theses on the issue of European warrants in the face of the extradition of the ‘procés’ politicians claimed by Spain. In the field of difficulties is also framed the split between ERC and Junts per Catalunya. Sánchez and the Government spokesperson demand the presence of Junts ‘consellers’ at the dialogue table, but it is very likely that it will be regrettable, as happened in the previous meeting, that the post-convergents do not attend, and less so now when the relationship between the two major pro-independence parties is clouded by the court case that affects the president of the Parliament, Laura Borràs.
The biggest challenge will be not allowing obstacles to cause us to abandon the path of dialogue. As well as extending this essential path of relaxation and mutual understanding, not only between Barcelona and Madrid, but within Catalan politics itself.