There is a word in Catalan that causes frequent sleeplessness to those who try to translate it into Spanish. It is ‘atzucac’ Formally translated as ‘dead end’, in Catalan it also acquires the tone of a surprising situation to which it is difficult to react. The publication of the execution figures of the State’s general budgets (PGE), with that scant 35.77% for Catalonia, which acquires dyes of enormous grievance when compared to the 183.97% achieved in Madrid, has placed ERC and the Government in an authentic ‘atzucac’. What to do before so much “breach”, as the republicans say, of the Government of Pedro Sánchez?
And it is that the relationship between the central and Catalan executives is increasingly similar to an Escher painting, one of those in which the manipulation of perspective leads to visual paradox. A dead end (PGE), within another (‘Catalangate‘) which, in turn, is immersed in another (dialogue table). To mention just a few, because if the focus is broadened beyond the Government to what the State is, the situation of the classroom catalan, and the role of Justice could give rise to another ‘atzucac’.
For ERC, Sánchez “has no interest in finding a solution to the political conflict.” For the Government, the Andalusians go first and there will never be any talk of a referendum or amnesty
The three exposed issues that concern the Government could, by themselves, give rise to a break up between Republicans and Socialists. The dependence of the convocation of the dialogue table of Sánchez’s agenda, be it a Conference of Presidents, or elections in Castilla y León and, now, in Andalusia, demonstrates, according to ERC, “that the President of the Government has no interest to find one solution to the political conflict that he himself has admitted exists. Nor have they proposed a single solution, to date & rdquor ;. Sánchez already said in Congress that he had no problem meeting Pere Aragonès and meeting the table “as soon as possible”, but in Moncloa they recognize that the Andalusian elections of 19-J, capital for the PSOE, lead to the postponement of both appointments, for the hypothetical penalization of their voters and the use that the PP makes of them. They also remember that there will never be a rapprochement on two nuclear issues for the independence movement: the self-determination referendum and the amnesty.
Six weeks after the espionage plot against the independence movement broke out using Pegasus software, Esquerra is still waiting a gesture of Sánchez himself in the form of declassification of documents to set up a summit between the two of them. “Every day that passes, the distance grows more & rdquor ;, describes a Republican.
“stuck” relationships
Given all this, does Aragonès think ‘break’ with the government? “Break in the sense of launching a high-sounding statement that later forces to pick up candles, because we are an Administration that does not collect, does not have the tap of money and that depends on the State, at this point still, to put more trains in rush hour ?, asks a voice from Palau that summarizes the above in “throw a tantrum & rdquor;.
His answer is “no, we don’t. gestures facing the gallery which could ultimately harm the citizen”. This same voice points out that relationships “are already stagnant & rdquor ;. Another source of the Executiu goes further and qualifies them as “null & rdquor ;. The objective “is to take the debates to the end, so that all citizens detect who complies, and who fails repeatedly & rdquor ;.
The objective for ERC “is to take the debates to the end, so that all citizens detect who complies, and who fails to comply repeatedly”
Various sources agree that Sánchez’s “breaches must be addressed separately.” “Regarding the execution deficit of the PGE, you can overreact and blow up the bank or demand and impact on the demand that what is agreed and budgeted be fulfilled. The Government is in this second option & rdquor ;. A voice from the party points out, sarcastically, that it seems that “it is ERC that executes below what was promised. I don’t remember criticizing Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida when investment in Catalonia was what it was. The same. Limited”.
“The Government cannot break, de facto, with the Government. That, in any case, ERC as a party“, underline several sources. Can Esquerra, as a party, be alarmed by remaining as a Don Tancredo, before the most independentist electorate, before what that public can understand as a global breach, one year after the municipal ones? The most repeated response at the Calabria headquarters is that “there are still a lot is missing and they can pass many things”. There are those who point out that the ERC rarely makes decisions by looking at the electoral calendar.
“The serious thing is that the breaches are not towards ERC, but towards citizens. It is obvious that Esquerra shows her face because she is the only part that pursues solutions and, therefore, any delay or non-compliance goes against us. Because neither Junts, nor the PSOE they are about to seek answers to the problems & rdquor ;, ponders a voice, aware that the idea that the ERC gives free support to a Government that does not even thank it has already been installed in the unconscious. The ‘pagafantismo’.
The Republicans insist that it is the socialists who have “a problem” if the president does not make movements “in all areas”
There are those who are even half offended and remember that, after ‘Catalangate’, ERC, in Congress “has already begun to take action on the matter & rdquor ;. Both in Plaça de Sant Jaume and in Carrer de Calàbria they expect Sánchez to make moves across the board. ‘Waiting’ not as an expression of longing, but as logical consequence of a scenario “not at all flattering” for the socialists. “They are the ones who have the problem“, summarizes a voice of the party.
“The schedule is very complicated for them. To whom will they turn to approve new Budgets, as the EU is demanding of them, almost suffocating them? How many defeats in Congress can they take? How many laws can remain in the pipeline? What stability does Sánchez want for his government for the semester in which he will preside over the EU? & rdquor ;, exemplifies a source that recognizes that the situation has reached a limit. And sentence: “They must move piece. Why alone it’s up to sanchez”. The slightly offended voice from before, in the same line as the previous one, asks: “What is the PSOE planning to do so that everything does not break? Because if they don’t change and, above all, if they don’t comply, breakup will be inevitable”.
From the labor reform to the audiovisual law
“Let’s not get super with ERC”, they respond instead in the leadership of the PSOE, in which they recall that several recent initiatives —the labor reform, the anti-crisis decree, the audiovisual law and the promotion of employment pension plans— have gotten away with voting against the Republicans. Nor did they endorse, they affect, all the extensions of the first state of alarm. The socialists, therefore, will continue to pull variable geometry: “We play with Citizens, with Bildu or with whomever comes within range. The important thing for us is that the measures do not derail. We would like to take them out with those of us who share ideological sensitivity, but other factors operate”, analyzes a high command of Ferraz in direct line with Sánchez.
The socialists argue that the initiatives come out in Congress even without the Republicans and consider that there are no more steps to satisfy them
Neither the Government nor the PSOE plan to give in, at least for now, to the demands of the ERC. They consider that, in response to Pegasus, they have already taken all possible steps – the last, last week, the announcement of an upcoming official secrets law and a new regulation of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) – and There will be no more. In other words, ex officio documents will not be declassified. It will only be done at the request of the judge. And Sánchez will not hand over the head of his Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, to ERC.
This being the case, there is no date yet for a meeting between Sánchez and Aragonès or for the table, but in Ferraz and in Moncloa they blame the Government, for its “internal competition with togetherwho has always tried break the dialogue“. But the PSOE and ERC delegations will not be seen soon either. With the Republicans, they count on Ferraz, there is “different circles of trust“, like the bridge between the deputy secretary general, Adriana Lastra, and the pro-independence spokesperson in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, “and when one circle fails, there is another.” “We continue to talk with ERC as with the rest of the groups, day by day“, they emphasize in the leadership of the party. In the leadership of the Socialist Group in Congress they ratify this vision and warn that nothing will be unlocked in the second steps until the appointment of the two presidents takes place. “But for what remains of session [este mes de junio, porque en julio ya son vacaciones parlamentarias y ahí se agendará el debate del estado de la nación], we don’t expect anything anymore. The support for the initiatives that remain to be processed would be tied up.”
“We continue to speak with ERC as with the rest of the groups, day by day,” they point out in the PSOE, denying a future meeting with their partners. They do trust to get the 2023 accounts with them
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The next big challenge will be 2023 Budgets. The Socialists do trust to carry out the latest accounts of the legislature with ERC. But they are also clear that, if the project does not have the guaranteed votes, “will not be brought to the House“. “Present them to lose, so that they are knocked down, no,” they stress.
The PSOE and ERC readings are diametrically opposed. The Republicans say they are at the limit, but for Ferraz and Moncloa the dialogue has not broken down and, in any case, it is not the only partner formation. Because from the Executive it is already taken for granted that weaving alliances will be more complicated every day as the legislature enters its final stretch. In the last year and a half, Andalusian elections through.