As expected, Pedro Sanchez He focused his investiture speech on left versus right dilemmatrying to make the proposal of amnesty in exchange for independence vote, which has focused the negotiations with its new partners and the criticism of the opposition in the Chamber. The candidate proposed only two possible alternatives: a retrograde right, which he defined with a string of examples of measures approved in the autonomous communities governed by the PP, with Vox or alone, or a left, that of the PSOE plus Sumar, which he presented as the sole defender of social progress and civil liberties. A clear exercise, nothing new, of Manichaeism. Although interventions such as those of Santiago Abascal, with accusations of coup d’état and his demand in front of the gallery for the PP not to process the law in the Senate and promote the illegalization of the pro-independence parties, makes it very easy for him to expose this panorama to a Sánchez who liked himself in his replies to Alberto Núñez Feijóo after he dedicated his speech to calling him a liar and corrupt because of his agreements.
However, this new stage that Sánchez begins as head of the Government appears more difficult. It will be more a path of thorns than roses. He will have to deal with the mobilization incited by PP and Vox in the streets, in the courts and in Parliament, with the difference, compared to the previous legislature, that Now the PP governs 11 of the 17 autonomous communities and enjoys an absolute majority in the Senate, which will make the approval of laws, agreements with the autonomies and, ultimately, the governance of the State much more difficult. The alliances reached for the investiture also have a more complex configuration, if possible, than in the past four years. On this occasion, Sánchez requires the support of seven parties with which he has only three votes above the absolute majority. without the ability to resort to variable parliamentary geometry. And it is not known how some of these partners will behave if, for example, the rupture between Sumar and Podemos is consecrated or the courts manage to delay the application of the amnesty.
Although Sánchez and his vice president, Yolanda Diazthe leader of Sumar, insist on describing the pact that guarantees the investiture as “progress”, the truth is that brings together forces with economic approaches that range from center-right to anti-system capitalism, some of them attracted almost solely by the rejection of a formula that includes Vox. It will be difficult for this package of economic and social measures that Sánchez outlined in Congress to have a smooth process. And even more so that Sumar’s demands have a long way to go, such as the extraordinary taxes on banking and energy companies or the housing law.
Regarding the amnesty law, Sánchez defended the amnesty law as a sign of the strength and validity of the Constitution and as a response to the fact that “coexistence has returned to the streets of Catalonia and the dialogue to institutions. Feijóo described the presidential candidate’s speech as “delirium.” Having listened to the debate between the leaders of the two main parties, There is no prospect of transversal pacts. Rather, it seems that the immediate future holds more polarization and more tension, and rather little normalization (at the Spanish level) of political life.