The veil of discretion with which the negotiations are being carried out forces silence within the party. It forces caution not to value “futures”
The general secretary of one of the most influential federations argues that, at least for the moment, “there is no real debate in the party” about the amnesty
More concern about territorial inequalities than about the electoral effects of an amnesty law. In the majority of PSOE federations they agree in denying that neither among their bases nor among their voters is there any special concern about an investiture pact with the independentistas under the premise of amnesty to those prosecuted for the ‘procés’. Even in some of the interior territories they argue that “at street level” detect other concerns. Those related to the social agenda, the debate on the territorial model -looking more at the “plurinational” proposal; of the PNV-, or that the agreement results in economic inequalities in favor of Catalonia.
In the direction of Ferraz The impact of the amnesty is compared with that of pardons to minimize its electoral cost and frame it in the narrative of dejudicialization. That Catalonia is better than in 2017 thanks to the measures in favor of “coexistence.” The general secretary of one of the most influential federations also argues that, at least for the moment, “there is no real debate in the party.” on the amnesty, despite the critical positions of their counterparts in Castilla-La Mancha and Aragón. “The priority,” as the majority of socialist barons conclude, is that “a government be formed.” “We will see when there is progress if there is more debate [sobre la amnistía]”But what the PSOE wants is a Pedro Sánchez government,” they say from one of the federations.
The veil of discretion with which the negotiations are being carried out forces silence within the party. It requires caution not to value “futures”, one of the best ways to deactivate preventive opposition. For the moment, only the manchego Emiliano García-Page and, with less impetus, the Aragonese Javier Lambánhave been against an amnesty law, in line with the old guard of the PSOE led by Felipe González. The PP’s attacks also have the effect of greater cohesion within the party. So much for “shaking up the street” as well as high-sounding statements such as those of Alberto Núñez Feijóo warning that an agreement with the independentists leads Spain to a “horizon similar to the Balkans.”
The internal glue due to the strategy adopted by the PP was reflected this week in the Senate. García-Page obeyed Ferraz’s directive not to attend the call for regional presidents made by the PP in the General Commission of the Autonomous Communities of the Upper House presented as a battering ram against the amnesty. The Castilian-La Mancha, critical from the beginning of negotiating an amnesty law, was absent as were the socialist presidents of Asturias and Navarra, Adrián Barbón and María Chivite, respectively.
The socialists thus revolted against a debate that they framed as an attempt to “boycott” the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The Ferraz’s slogan goes through avoid the noise and “not play into the hands of the PP”. Faced with this, criticism from historical sectors remains alive and former president Felipe González attacked again this week against a norm that he considers unconstitutional. “They ask that we recognize that what they did was the right thing and that what the State did was repressive and incorrect,” he lamented. A day earlier it had been the turn of José Luis Zapatero, who broke his silence from his omnipresence in the 23-J campaign to counteract the critical voices of the old guard. His move ahead of him, in full harmony with Ferraz, focused on embracing the amnesty, considering it constitutional and because of the need to turn the page in Catalonia.
From the most related territories They limit themselves to expressing their coordination with the line marked by Ferraz and its general secretary. “What worries us Spaniards is not this, it is the situation in Israel and Palestine and how it affects us,” explained a PSOE senator by autonomous designation this week in the corridors of the Upper House. However, he did not dispense with the pedagogy on the dejudicialization of the ‘procés’ to conclude that “it is not going well for Spain that [Carles] Puigdemont is still out.”
“non-asymmetric” autonomic process
Regarding the territorial debate, which generates a suspicion more transversal than the amnesty, the leader of the Andalusian socialists, Juan Espadas, tried to reassure his people this Thursday in the General Commission of the Autonomous Communities of the Senate by defending a “symmetrical and not asymmetrical” autonomous process. That is, “equal opportunities and peaceful coexistence between territories as a goal of that autonomous, shared and non-exclusive process, in which we all fit”. The PSOE, he concluded by reading an intervention agreed upon with Ferraz, will be “guarantor of unity, plurality and constitutionality.”
When Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu launched his plan to address a reform of the territorial model in the next legislature, Espadas already claimed to place Andalusia “on an equal footing” with the other communities “with strict respect for the constitutional framework.” In a similar vein, the former president of the Valencian Community Ximo Puig opened himself to the debate, but always betting on a “federal relationship” without asymmetries, “equal for all“. Lambán, in a position traditionally belligerent with nationalist demands, argued that “the territorial model needs reforms, but to correct existing inequalities, not to increase them, as Urkullu’s proposal intends.” The more or less coincident positions of critics and similar to Ferraz show that the territorial debate in the terms proposed by the Basque nationalists would be more difficult to digest internally in the PSOE than a hypothetical amnesty law.
Latest CIS barometer published this week it did launch a warning about the electoral wear and tear of the PSOE in this negotiating context. Pedro Sánchez would obtain 32.6% of the votes, one point less than a month ago, and Feijóo would climb to 32.2%, half a point more than in September. Among the country’s problems pointed out by those surveyed in the same barometer, the amnesty and the “independence of Catalonia” do not appear; or “nationalisms” They are located in residual positions.
The investiture date is still up in the air and a territorial leader acknowledges that “there is concern about it being sped up a little more.” the negotiation. With the conversations encapsulated and the PP taking to the streets and monopolizing debates in the Senate as an opposition chamber against the possible agreements, the spread is spreading. risk of raising the bill. Sources from La Moncloa, on the other hand, assure that “there is no concern” because negotiations have slowed down. “It is not easy to solve a conflict that goes back years in a few days,” the same sources justified this week. To the point that they assure that “there is no rush,” after insisting for weeks on the need to form a government “as soon as possible.”