It will be in a central hotel in Brussels, just 200 meters from the headquarters of the community institutions. The former president of the Generalitat and now a member of the European Parliament for Junts per Catalunya, Carlos Puigdemont has summoned the media this Tuesday to publicly expose its negotiating framework with the PSOE in view of the investiture of Pedro Sanchez.
Almost no one has been informed of the content, but in Junts a demanding, ambitious, high-stakes speech is expected -also given the proximity of the Catalan National Day, where the ANC will press against the possible pact- and in which concepts will predominate more than concrete demands. There will be more words like recognition or reciprocity than details of economic investments or what powers to transfer. The frontispiece are two key ideas: amnesty, as the first step to then address the other great demand, that of the self-determination referendum.
Disassociate from ERC
Puigdemont and Junts have emphasized time and again that their strategy is different -and, they add, better- than that of CKD. The ‘expresident’ has theorized, in the short text Reunim-nos (“Let’s get together”) the idea of intelligent confrontation with the State as the only way to access independence, instead of the negotiating option of the Republicans. In relation to the confrontation and dialogue, in the presentation of a book this Monday, the MEP of Junts Toni Comin again criticized ERC’s pragmatic approach and assured that “Negotiation is an instrument but it needs another instrument to make progress, which is confrontation.“.
However, in that same book, Puigdemont defends that negotiation is possible at a certain moment as long as two conditions are met: “reciprocity and mutual recognition“. Recognition of Catalonia as a political subject, bilaterality, and the right to self-determination. All this after a first demand, which he considers a starting point and not an arrival point: amnesty.
Regarding this measure to annul criminal cases, Puigdemont and his entourage have repeatedly defended that the measure fits in the Constitution and that it is necessary to reset the counter to zero and start a negotiation of self-government content. The ‘expresident”s speech on Spanish democracy has been and always is highly belligerent given that he considers Spain a State with serious democratic deficiencies.
Thus, to the question of what Puigdemont is going to ask for, it is possible that there is no concrete answer, which can be measured in economic or competence terms or included in a list of linguistic, cultural, social or infrastructure-related claims. All this is a concretion that for Puigdemont is less key than the concepts. That, in addition, will allow the moral leader of JxCat not to be a prisoner of concretions and have room to negotiate.
“Charge in Advance”
At all times it is about setting a framework other than ERC. “I ain’t been to jail for Rodalies and financing”, has proclaimed the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turullto distance itself from the classic negotiation, of the so-called “dividends”.
In Puigdemont’s idea there is also the concept of “charge in advance“That is, the requirement to achieve tangible and verifiable transfers before voting for Sánchez, as happened with the negotiation of the Congress Table and the Government’s commitment to propose the official status of Catalan in the EU, in writing.
The key in any case will be to what extent this “charge in advance“It is also claimed by Puigdemont to demand the referendum. It is known that the PSOE has repeatedly and unequivocally refused to enter this path. Junts sources point to the idea of creating a framework (the word framework is in the call for the conference this Tuesday) to address this issue along with others related to self-government during the legislature.
The gestures
Puigdemont will be demanding, but in his record there are also episodes of an outstretched hand for dialogue. He did it after the referendum of 1-O, when he sought a mediation that would avoid proclaiming independence if a formal negotiation with the State was opened; and even before 1-O he proposed to the State to set the conditions of the referendum.
Of course, once the lack of agreement was verified, he also carried out the initiative. Another sample of dialogue took place this Monday with the unprecedented meeting between an acting vice president of the Government and Puigdemont himself in Brusselsalthough Yolanda Diaz come – as the central Executive stressed – in his capacity as leader of a party, Sumar, and not on behalf of the coalition Executive.
But this meeting is in line with the recognition and reciprocity that Puigdemont demands and will demand in order to overcome his ostracism and return to the center of the political table to negotiate with the PSOE and leave CKD in a supporting role. In addition, the ‘expresident’ proposes that if there is an agreement, it should be signed in Brussels at the highest level, as EL PERIÓDICO advanced.
Another example of Puigdemont’s interest in getting out of a certain ostracism is the exhibition that he will open together with Toni Comin in the afternoon at the European Parliament on the contribution of Catalonia to Europe. Citizens have already expressed their formal complaint about this exhibition in writing, despite the fact that it has not yet been inaugurated.
Together, almost blindly
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From the intervention this Tuesday in Brussels, the management of together it lacks relevant information, which for some leader is another sign of the absolute personalism with which the negotiation is being managed.
Last Thursday Junts called an in-depth meeting of the executive to discuss the negotiations, but at that moment it was when Puigdemont announced that he would be the one who would set the negotiating framework. And this Monday the meeting with Díaz took place without the presence of any post-convergent leader. The party leadership, in addition to representatives of the ERC and the CUP, will support the ‘ex-president’ since they have called for two days of internal debates.