Catalonia chief sets terms for Spanish left–wing coalition

Together for Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont (JxCAT) met with Sumar candidate Yolanda Díaz at the EU Parliament on Monday to fine-tune positions between Puigdemont’s separatist party and a future left-wing government, in which Díaz would likely be deputy prime minister to Socialist leader and acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

This was the first public contact that a member of the Spanish coalition government, of the socialist party (PSOE/S&D) and the almost defunct Unidas Podemos (EU Left), a now acting executive, had with the former Catalan regional prime minister since he fled to Belgium in 2017.

“The meeting we had this afternoon with Yolanda Díaz, Jaume Asens and Antoni Comín (two other Catalan separatist leaders) is part of the democratic normality in the European Union. Dialogue and political relations between formations of different ideologies should not be a surprise, nor an exception”, Puigdemont commented on X.

Dialogue as the only solution for Catalonia

After the meeting, in a joint press release, Sumar and JXCAT assured that the meeting between Díaz and Puigdemont was “fruitful” because “it allows for the establishment of a normalised and stable relationship between both political formations”.

They added that both share “the profound conviction that political problems must return to political channels in order to find solutions based on dialogue”, both stated, without mentioning a single concrete word about JXCat’s possible future support for Sánchez.

Since the snap general elections of 23 July in Spain, Sumar has been exploring possible ways, within the framework of the Spanish Constitution, to grant a possible amnesty for those involved in the October 2017 events in Catalonia.

The Catalan parliament unilaterally declared “independence” in 2017 following a referendum the same year, which was declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court.

But despite big media expectations, PSOE distanced itself from the meeting and stressed that it was not informed of it until late on Sunday, that it was a personal initiative of the Minister and leader of Sumar, and that she had no official mandate to negotiate anything with Puigdemont.

A meeting shrouded in secrecy

An example of the deep secrecy surrounding the meeting was the protest of Javier Sánchez, Unidas Podemos’s deputy, who on Monday lamented the “lack of coordination” between the partners of the progressive government while complaining that his party, now almost absorbed by Sumar, was not informed of it.

Spanish media stressed that the meeting had a special political significance, as it came just one day before Puigdemont announced his “official” conditions for supporting a new investiture of Pedro Sánchez.

It is difficult to understand why Sanchez’s PSOE was not informed of Díaz’s trip when the two are so personally very close, with Diaz set to become his ‘number 2’ in a future progressive coalition government, media reports added.

Synchronised messages from Sánchez and Díaz

Also surprising is the “synchronicity” of the messages that both Díaz and Sánchez launched on Monday, which points to the possibility that, if both form a government, they would be willing – at the very least – to explore the conditions set by Catalan separatists.

Sánchez had already shown his willingness to engage in dialogue to resolve what Catalan separatists define as a “political conflict” with the central state in Madrid, with the pardoning of several pro-independence leaders and his openness to further dialogue with pro-independence Catalan –and Basque- parties.

On Monday, the acting Spanish prime minister reiterated the message of dialogue with the liberal-conservative JuntsX and the separatist Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party, which supported Sánchez in the previous legislature.

The meeting between Puigdemont and Diaz took place as the leader of the Partido Popular (PP/EPP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, winner of the last elections but without a sufficient majority to govern, continues his round of contacts with several parties in search of the 176 seats he needs to govern (currently 174), an almost impossible task for which he has until 26 September.

Harsh criticism from the PP and VOX

The meeting had a clear objective: to pave the way for a new investiture of Sánchez in exchange for broad concessions to JXCat and ERC (and perhaps later also to pro-independence Basque parties), Partido Popular stressed on Monday.

“Today (with the Díaz-Puigdemont meeting), we have the confirmation that Pedro Sánchez prefers to govern with a fugitive from justice, even at the expense of all Spaniards, than a legislature based on major agreements for the benefit of all Spaniards”, stressed PP’s Vice Secretary of Culture, Borja Sémper, lamenting that Sánchez had rejected a pact that Feijóo offered him last week.

The leader of the far-right VOX party (ECR), Santiago Abascal, was also very harsh and said that it is “extremely serious” that the government (Díaz) is today sitting with a “fugitive from justice” in Brussels, something that does not happen anywhere in the world, he stressed.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)