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The government does not want to spoil its relationship with ERC. It has approached Citizens, whose support was vital to approve the fourth extension of the state of alarm decreed by the corornavirus crisis, and has launched a dialogue with this party, which will put conditions to support it in Congress in those initiatives with which it feel close. But he wants to avoid at all costs cooling the collaboration with the Republicans, who were key in Pedro Sánchez's inauguration.

ERC has been increasing its criticism of the Executive for its efforts to maintain the state of alarm. The first three times he abstained and the fourth he voted against. The day after the fourth extension was approved, after Cs and the PNV saved the government from losing that crucial vote, in RNE , the leader of the ERC, Oriol Junqueras, who is serving a sentence for the process , threatened to dynamit the legislature if Sánchez maintains its alliance with Cs. Junqueras instructed the Prime Minister to "decide whether to throw himself into the arms of Citizens or if he wants to keep the majority of the investiture."

This warning set off alarms in La Moncloa, because two meetings with ERC at the highest level have been held immediately after. It is, according to El País and later confirmed by this newspaper, the team that negotiated the investiture agreement.

Specifically, the spokeswoman in Congress and deputy secretary general of the PSOE, Adriana Lastra ; the Secretary of Organization and Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos; and the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, a man from the PSC, familiar with the ins and outs of Catalan politics and a regular liaison with the independentists, on a socialist side.

In addition to the deputy secretary general and ERC spokesperson, Marta Vilalta ; the spokesman in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, and the regional deputy Josep Maria Jové , considered one of the architects of the process , representing the Republicans.

The three ERC conditions

In these meetings, according to ERC sources, there has been talk of the state of alarm, a figure that this party rejects because it diminishes self-government, and the conditions for not voting against have been transmitted. There are three: "return of powers, end of the single command and social measures".

The fact that it was necessary to resort to the negotiating team shows both the interest of the Executive to pamper its relationship with ERC and its eagerness to carry out the fifth and probably last extension of the state of alarm.

The Government, through its first vice president, Carmen Calvo, has confirmed that it intends it to be one month, instead of 15 days as up to now, so that it lasts until the end of the de-escalation. And it has advanced that it will propose a reform of the health legislation so that it is not necessary to resort to this constitutional instrument in the event of new outbreaks of coronavirus in the coming months.

In addition, the decree to request the extension of the state of alarm, which the Council of Ministers will approve on Tuesday, May 19, will include important modifications to reinforce the role of the autonomous communities in managing de-escalation.

Rufián: "They know what we want"

With this plan on the table, closer to the ERC approach, the Government has revived its deteriorated dialogue with the Catalan republicans. But it has been necessary to do it through its hard core -Vilalta and Jové- and the conversations that Lastra usually has with Rufián have not been enough.

On Thursday morning, in an interview on Cadena Ser , Gabriel Rufián announced that the ERC vote in the fifth extension may change. "They know what we want and they are committed to studying it. It is a change. But ERC remains in the no. If there is no change, it will be so," he said.

Like the PNV, the independentistas demand an active participation of the autonomous governments. "Who knows the territory best are the councils. It is not a question of nationalisms, but of pure efficiency."

Later, in a press conference in the Congress, Rufián has specified on the "codecision" so that the councilors can participate in the decisions, as well as to make the surplus of the municipalities more flexible to have resources, and a series of economic and social proposals , mainly in the field of family reconciliation. ERC will draft an amendment to the decree with these requests.

The key, the Catalan conflict

However, the independentistas add another. That the meetings between the State and the Generalitat of Catalonia be resumed to seek a solution to the Catalan conflict. "Politics must also be unconfined. The conflict continues to exist, the repression continues to exist and this political moment must be faced," he said.

The Government has promised to retake the dialogue table when the de-escalation ends. And although during these days he has maintained that there is no change in alliances, and the proof is how quickly he has tried to redirect the cooling of his relations with ERC, he also reiterates that he will try to expand his parliamentary base in Congress, with a stable collaboration with Citizens. .

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Know more

  • ERC
  • Citizens
  • PNV
  • Salvador Illa
  • Oriol Junqueras
  • Gabriel Rufián
  • PSC
  • PSOE
  • Pedro Sánchez
  • Adriana Lastra
  • José Luis Ábalos
  • Carmen Calvo
  • Procés sentence
  • Catalonia
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • State of alarm

Control session Sánchez, Calvo and Robles close ranks in defense of the state of alarm throughout the de-escalation

Politics Gabriel Rufián threatens Pedro Sánchez: "Without dialogue there is no legislature"

Congress Pedro Sánchez manages to extend the state of alarm for the fourth time with declining support in Congress