Carles Puigdemont proclaimed, throwing a dart at ERC, that the time is over “‘in exchange for nothing'” after signing the pact with the PSOE. And the Republicans, who publicly welcome Junts to the field of negotiation with the socialists, joke behind the scenes that the “charge in advance” that the former president championed has disappeared in one fell swoop. The eternal struggle between the two independence parties, which threatens to go ‘in crescendo’ As the Catalan elections approach, it also now translates into what and how each one agrees with Pedro Sánchez, situation that the president will have to deal with throughout the legislature.
To begin with, the agreements sealed for the investiture, despite the fact that they differ in their structure, extension and rhetoric, they are not contradictory -one of the difficulties that the PSOE had to take into account- and even They are complementary in most of the folders addressed. Below is the comparison between what each other has agreed to.
The amnesty law is the cornerstone of both agreements and the great concession that Sánchez makes to the independence movement to be able to be president. Although the final text remains to be seen and has the great handicap of being left to the interpretation of the courts. ERC boasts of having managed to include causes such as Democratic Tsunami and that of the CDR accused of terrorism in addition to those that have to do with the organization and defense of 9-N and 1-O. Junts, however, is determined to minimize the margin of interpretation that judges make of the law and that they are included in it. lawfare casesthat is, the deliberate use of judicial power to go against someone who is considered a rival or political dissident.
This was the obstacle that caused the entente to be extended a week longer than expected, for reasons such as Volhov or the one that affects the former minister Michael Buch on the table. Finally, the PSOE agreement with Puigdemont includes in writing the concept of ‘lawfare’, which implies acceptance by the socialists of its possible existence. Although it is not planned to be included in the law and is externalized to the conclusions of the investigation commissions implemented in Congress and, therefore, to the parliamentary majority, if there are cases that can be attributed to that concept.
The presence of a mediator to verify compliance with the pact was one of the ‘sine qua non’ conditions that Puigdemont set to say yes to Sánchez. It has been another of the transfers that the PSOE has made to both Junts and ERC and that the socialists have justified in the existing distrust between the parties. The difference is that the former president has insisted that the appointee be someone from the international sphere. On paper, a “international mechanismwhich has the functions of accompanying, verifying and monitoring the entire negotiation process and the agreements reached between the two parties.
And, with the Republicans, what has been signed is that within the framework of the table between parties – not in the dialogue between Moncloa and Generalitat – a “mechanism that has the functions of accompanying, verify and monitor the entire negotiation process and the agreements reached.” They will designate, they specify, a “person of recognized prestige” to perform this function.
The referendum and the recognition of Catalonia
Although the right and the extreme right have vehemently denounced it, Neither ERC nor Junts have agreed on a referendum with Sánchez. Nor the recognition of the legality of 1-O. Yes, before both the socialists recognize the existence of a political conflicta concept that the Government has already assumed on other occasions: both in the Pedralbes summit that on the part of the Government Quim Torra led in 2018 as in the investiture pact that ERC sealed three years ago. What Junts does achieve in its agreement is that the PSOE agrees to “develop a dynamic for its resolution in different terms“, reference to which is accepted Jordi Turull to mark distances with those of Oriol Junqueras.
The text of the agreement between the socialists and the republicans includes “the need for the agreements reached as a political result of the dialogue are endorsed by the citizens“, which means that whatever is eventually agreed upon at the table between governments is put to a vote. It is in that space where Aragonès plans to insist on celebration of the referendumwhile the socialists, in any case, They limit the vote to a new Statute. The 1-O, it is specified, was “annulled by the TC”, although it is admitted that at the height of the ‘procés’ “different legitimacies” and “different conceptions of sovereignty” existed between the Catalan and state parties.
In turn, what the text signed by socialists and post-convergents does is confirm the discrepancy between both regarding 1-O: “Junts considers legitimate the result and the mandate of the referendum of October 1, as well as the declaration of independence of October 27, 2017. On the other hand, the PSOE denies all legality and validity to the referendum and the declaration, and maintains its rejection of any unilateral action.
It is also established that in the meeting between both parties that took place will celebrate in November “Junts will propose the holding of a self-determination referendum on the political future of Catalonia protected by article 92 of the Constitution” and, the PSOE, “will defend the broad development, through the appropriate legal mechanisms, of the Statute of 2006“. For the socialists, this mention of the Constitution means that Junts is committed to “legal security” and puts aside the unilateral route.
For ERC, it was key in the pact to achieve transfers that the Government of Pere Aragones, from which Junts decided to leave a year ago. In economic matters, the Republicans have managed to forgive 20% of the FLA debt, which represents 15,000 million euros, in addition to saving 1,300 million in interest. This is a mechanism that will not be exclusive, since it will be extended to the rest of the autonomies. They have also agreed on a bilateral dialogue that will start in the first quarter of 2024 to address the reform of Catalonia’s financing that is considered “insufficient”as well as 1.6 billion more for the deployment of the Mossos until 2030 and 150 million to promote scientific research.
The text sealed with Junts is more vague. In order to record the discrepancies, they establish that those of Carles Puigdemont “will propose a modification of the LOFCA that establishes an exception clause for Catalonia” and that the Generalitat is facilitated “with the transfer of 100% of all taxes paid in Catalonia.” However, the PSOE makes it clear that its proposal will go through a “a unique dialogue on the impact of the current financing model”, in line with what was also discussed with ERC, and includes the commitment to work on a plan to “facilitate and promote the return to Catalonia of the headquarters of the companies that changed their location ” in recent years.
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Without a doubt, one of ERC’s flagships in the negotiation with the PSOE has been to tie up the “comprehensive transfer” of Rodalieyes, the complexity of which is evident from the moment in which no specific date is set to complete the transfer or the specification of the resources to be transferred beyond 500 million for next year, as well as the assumption that there will be sections of roads, especially all merchandise, which will remain under state control. It is, however, a milestone highly claimed by the Generalitat that ERC equates to the transfer to create the Mossos d’Esquadra body.
Together not only It has not entered the field of competence so much -especially because he is not in the Government to capitalize on these achievements- but has also acrimoniously disdained what was agreed by ERC on the railway network. Puigdemont himself did so when explaining his agreement last Thursday in an appearance without questions. Junts, for its part, has managed to get the PSOE to commit to the “direct participation of Catalonia in the European institutions and other international organizations and entities, particularly in matters that have a special impact on their territory”.