• Pacts.The PSOE defends the constitutional order but opens up to changes to fit a consultation in Catalonia
  • PSOE.Revolution in the Government of Pedro Sánchez to sell a more social project
  • The minorities: BNG will vote in favor of the investiture and clear the way of Pedro Sánchez

At nine o'clock this Saturday, January 4, on a weekend in which the Spaniards are engaged in the purchases of the day of Kings, the Congress hosts the investiture session of Pedro Sánchez. The peculiarities that national politics have treasured since 2015 - the end of the great majority, the weakening of traditional parties, fragmentation, the lack of agreements, the stress of four elections in four years - mark a new historical milestone. For the date chosen by the plenary, because if Sanchez achieves more yeses than not in the second vote on Tuesday, January 7, there will be a coalition government with Podemos. And because this Friday after binding the necessary support one by one - the favorable vote of Teruel Existe, the BNG and Nueva Canarias - and having guaranteed the abstention of ERC, the decision of the Central Electoral Board to disable Quim Torra and Oriol Junqueras introduced a final dose of adrenaline to the wobbly situation in Spain.

Republicans have urgently called their Executive on Saturday to analyze this resolution and assess how it can affect their position before the investiture.

Attack on the Electoral Board

The Socialists and Podemos trust that they do not change their position. The vice-secretary general of the PSOE and spokesman of the socialist group, Adriana Lastra, frightened on Friday the bad dream of a vote against ERC and in a brief appearance said that "democracy is going to break through" and the investiture will begin " a new cycle in this country ». Lastra accused "to the right and the extreme right" -PP, Cs and Vox presented the appeals to the JEC- of trying to boycott her. And he also charged against the Electoral Board of which the PSOE said "it has serious doubts that it is competent to adopt," as evidenced, he recalled, the division of criteria of the magistrates. "It is not a court, but an administrative body, it is not a court." "What we expect," he added, "is that the highest body, the Supreme Court, answer this question as soon as possible."

The statements of the socialist spokesperson connect with the feeling that there is also in ERC that it is a maneuver "of the right" before the JEC to try to fail the investiture. In the parties of the new Government, they believe that it does not affect the "background strategy" of the Republicans to seek a dialogue in the political crisis in Catalonia .

If the independence formation remains in abstention, Sanchez will be president for the first time after winning an election, not as a result of a motion of censure. Behind him he accumulates two failed endowments: that of 2016, after the Hug Pact with Albert Rivera, and that of July 2019, where the agreement with Podemos did not bear fruit. In each of them it is possible to find a different Pedro Sánchez, with a speech adapted to the specific circumstances of that moment.

Today's is a leader who headed for the November electoral repetition because he did not want Podemos in the Government or that his parliamentary majority depended on ERC and has now ended up accepting both things with total naturalness.

This Friday brought together the Executive of the PSOE to validate the agreement with the independentistas, which includes the creation of a dialogue between the Generalitat and the State on the exits to the "political conflict" in Catalonia and also contemplating the celebration of a ratification consultation of the agreements reached. In less than an hour the socialist leadership gave its approval. It is all the debate that has occurred in the PSOE about it. It has been dodged to convene the Federal Committee - the largest congress body, the party's legislature - which, at least, would have guaranteed a more in-depth discussion. "Eight interventions," according to party sources, signed the Friday pact with ERC. None against, all "evaluative and proactive." The Executive of the PSOE is getting closer and closer to the traditional functioning of the PP. Sanchez, they say, is "convinced and encouraged." But the acting president and general secretary of the PSOE has not yet given a single public explanation of his agreement with ERC. This is how he addresses his speech before the plenary session of Congress, which this Friday afternoon had just filed with his team. In a brief preview distributed by the PSOE this Friday afternoon, there was no reference to this issue.

The only one who spoke about it was the Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, who had the ungrateful task of giving his face in an appearance in which he had real difficulties in clarifying the terms of the pact. In fact, it is still not known much that the next government will be proposed.

"It is not a self-determination referendum"

Ábalos had no objections to mention the Constitution , a word vetoed by ERC, which does not appear in the agreement at his express wish, and defended that the query referred to "is not a referendum of self-determination." "At the table we are willing to discuss any initiative, but that does not mean admitting them, debating is not about sharing." "We continue to maintain our position, which is widely known to maintain the integrity of Spain," he said.

He did recognize that between the ERC requirement of a referendum and the position of the PSOE, a "meeting point" can be found. The document signed with the independentistas includes the commitment that the measures adopted at the table between governments «will be submitted, where appropriate, to consultation of the citizens of Catalonia, in accordance with the mechanisms provided or that can be foreseen in the framework of the legal-political system ». This opened the door to legal changes that allow this vote to fit. And the socialist leader validated it yesterday by insisting that if the dialogue reaches a port, the consultation will be held according to the "legal system in force at that time." «The current political framework ... this is not a corset, I know that conservatives are very much of that. Politics is something dynamic, political realities are built from parliamentarism »with one or the other majorities, he said.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • ERC
  • PSOE
  • We can
  • Catalonia
  • Spain
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Quim Torra
  • Teruel There
  • Supreme Court
  • New Canary
  • Vox
  • PP
  • Oriol Junqueras
  • José Luis Ábalos
  • Citizens
  • BNG
  • Albert rivera
  • Adriana Lastra
  • Politics
  • Graphics
  • President's Investiture

Politics PSOE and ERC move forward in the negotiation and agree to seek a "political" way out for the independence conflict

SpainThe BNG will vote in favor of the investiture and facilitates the path of Pedro Sánchez

PoliticsERC reaffirms the unilateral way before investing Pedro Sánchez