In Spain there are clear signs that the covid pandemic may be about to be history. One of them is that the Royal House has reorganized, after two years of exception to the general rule, an overflowing reception at the Royal Palace with journalists included among the hundreds of guests to commemorate another October 12, the National Holiday. Heat, traditional hand-in-hand greeting by the Kings and hydroalcoholic gel before entering the rooms where the canapés coexist with the small groups.
The occasional mask could be seen hiding part of the face of its wearers, yes, but the vast majority of those present sought the proximity of windows and balconies more due to the atypical high temperatures of the day in Madrid than for preventive ventilation issues. The fear of the virus, given the closeness with which one and the other spoke to each other –and faith that they spoke a lot to each other!–, is old news. What were they talking about? Well, who was not there, Carlos Lesmes, resigned president of the General Council of the Judiciary, and the consequences of that absence: the negotiation resumed between the Government and the PP to try to solve the shameful situation of blockage that Spanish justice is experiencing.
If there is finally an agreement or not, it will depend on whether the two majority parties know how to live up to circumstances that have gone too far. This time it is being negotiated “seriously”, according to the literal words of the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, who was gracefully advised on Wednesday by one of his fellow cabinet members, Miquel Iceta, to measure the level of influence he enjoys (or at least unless he is recognized) by virtue of the cliques of which he is the protagonist in events such as the Palace. If that is the meter, Bolaños is in the ‘high class’ of the almighty.
“Progress adequately & rdquor;
Regarding the agreement regarding the judiciary that this minister is seeking to weave with the popular Esteban González Pons, he pointed out in an informal chat with the press that he is not given to claiming victory until the fruit of an alleged agreement is published in a BOE , but admits that talks are progressing “adequately & rdquor;.
With this language typical of school grades, Bolaños said goodbye to the journalists, but not before warning them that he was going to cross a crowded room in search of the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to greet him. Quite a symptom that there is a hopeful turning point (reality will tell if it is ephemeral or not) in PSOE-PP relationsbefore the resigned kicking (it is heard, but of little use) of Podemos, the already habitual position of wanting to be the governmental Switzerland of Yolanda Díaz and the anger of the leaders of Vox.
The fact is that Núñez Feijóo was also prey to questions from the media, without microphones or cameras, at the reception of the Kings. Experience in dodging the press in these circles accumulates, of course, but until now he had been doing it as president of Galicia and not of the PP – this year the territorial baron with the most hook in the celebration was the Andalusian Juanma Moreno. Feijóo also showed moderate optimism regarding the possibilities of being able to unlock the CGPJ not taking too long.. His party has always defended that the reform of the organic law of the Judiciary that entails a change of model must go in the negotiating lot. But the president, Pedro Sánchez, detracts from the urgency of this reform, which, as he pointed out, the head of the PP did not make a condition of in his last appointment.
Polls, sedition, boos and hugs
It is the legal change requested by the PP or the alternative that ends up being offered by the Government, and not the names for the Judiciary, which occupies the negotiators. At least that is what is intuited from the crossing of information from various cliques with that of the president Sánchez, who in addition to valuing the negotiation with the popular, had time to boast of a cabinet of ministers and to predict a better electoral result for himself than the trend shown by the socialists, currently, in the polls.
Related news
The also leader of the PSOE, to questions from journalists in groups, was willing to reform the crime of sedition, despite the fact that he does not see enough support in Congress, at this time, to be able to approve it. It should be remembered that ERC and Junts have just broken up as partners in the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia. And his incident of the military parade arriving late and making the Kings wait? He did it to avoid boos? To that he responded by alleging that he got out of the car when they told him he should.. Come on, it’s an errand in these matters…
As a climax, the great embrace in which Sánchez merged with his former Minister of Culture, the presenter and writer Màxim Huerta, who resigned a week after being sworn in, in 2018, when it was discovered that he had committed tax fraud. Given the strength of the embrace, the ministerial responsibility was short-lived. The affection endures.