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  • The agreement. The 10 points of the pact between the PSOE and United We Can

Between the anger over the election result and the obstinacy in which the only way out was a coalition government, a message from Pablo Iglesias sent to Pedro Sánchez on Sunday night triggered a process that in less than 24 hours resulted in an agreement between them. "What in April was a historic opportunity is now a historic opportunity," Iglesias wrote to the president of the acting Government. The same phrase was pronounced in his appearance that night and repeated on Tuesday, when both signed in Congress the pre-agreement to form a progressive coalition Executive.

That message, and also the one that 1,414,149 Spaniards - those that the 10-N did not vote for either the PSOE or the United Can after having done so in April - has made Iglesias vice president of the Government.

Not even he could think to send it that would be so productive. That shy approach can end both practically living together. Sanchez replied almost immediately: "See you later." The next morning they called each other on the phone and met after eating at La Moncloa. They were gathered until eight in the afternoon and during that time they closed the main lines of the programmatic agreement that they made public at 2.30 pm in Congress.

The morning of this Tuesday only served to arrange the meeting, to convene the respective teams and for them to agree on the formula and the content of the joint appearance.

The PSOE sent to its positions the order that nobody spoke of the agreement with Podemos waiting for Sanchez to fix a position. Only a few hours later, to the surprise and joy of many of them, the pact was announced.

The afternoon of 11-N, in Moncloa

On Monday afternoon, the two major advances of the agreement were closed in Moncloa. There are no vetoes of any kind, as in July, which allows the leader of the United We can fulfill his aspiration to become vice president. And the participation of this formation in the Government will be proportional to the number of seats it contributes.

The Socialists have 120 and United We can 35, so the weight of the latter is almost 25%. This means that in the current Socialist Executive in office - there were 17 ministers, although now, after the resignation of Meritxell Batet to be appointed president of the Congress, there are 16 - one in four ministers will be from Podemos. "Three or four" is your calculation.

According to both Sánchez and Iglesias, the structure of the new Government will be addressed after the investiture. But the sources consulted suggest that they will constitute working groups to, on the basis of the document they have agreed, develop the programmatic commitments and the composition of the Executive.

In the initial conversations the Table of Congress has not been included. The Chamber will be constituted on December 3. The Presidency will correspond to the PSOE and the forecast is to continue Batet. The rest of the positions will be used as a currency in the negotiation with the parties that the PSOE and Podemos need to assemble a majority and overcome the investiture: PNV, Más País and the regionalist forces of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria ( PRC ), Teruel Existe, BNG and probably one of the two deputies of the Canary Coalition.

The socialists will open in the next few hours a round of conversations with these formations. The consulted sources assure that there will be no contacts with ERC, although its abstention is necessary, because it is assumed that it will occur, that Republicans will not vote alongside the PP and Vox, against an agreement of the PSOE and United We .

New Government, before Christmas

If Sanchez finally gets the necessary support to save the investiture, before Christmas there could be a new government. With the constitution of the Chambers on December 3, the King can then hold meetings with representatives of parliamentary groups and only a few days later a date can be set for Sanchez to submit to the confidence of Parliament.

If it fulfills its promise to appoint the current Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, economic vice president and to keep Carmen Calvo also in charge of a vice-presidency, the Government, as happened in other stages, would have three vice presidencies. In the absence of the negotiation revealing the weight of Podemos in the new Administration, one of the people whom Iglesias already pointed out as a future minister is the leader of the Galician confluence in Marea, Yolanda Díaz .

Sánchez and Iglesias have starred on Tuesday an unthinkable image a few weeks ago and that the president wanted to avoid at all costs: an effusive hug that has just sealed the coalition government agreement. "Thank you, Pedro", "Thank you, Pablo". Both closed in just 24 hours what was not possible to do in five months. Sánchez now accepts that Iglesias is his vice president, despite the fact that the campaign has been passed, congratulating himself for not having agreed with them for their differences over the Catalan crisis.

The two say they leave the reproaches behind and are aware of the "disappointment" that the failed investiture meant among the "progressive voters." "The political project is so exciting that it overcomes any political disagreement we may have had," Sánchez said.

Everything is so forgotten that the other hug of the day was the one that Iglesias gave to the president's chief of staff, Iván Redondo , whom he himself blamed for the failure of July. Redondo, along with Adriana Lastra , has now died this new approach after Sánchez's yes to Iglesias on election night.

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