Only a few weeks have been necessary for the prospects of a profound change in the political, legal and social scenario of the State to begin to take shape. When on the night of July 23 it was proven that the party that won at the polls would have no chance of forming a Government, an alternative began to be forged around the second and fourth forces in the fray – PSOE and Sumar – dependent on one hundred percent of the minority pro-independence and nationalist formations that deny the Constitution and its core principles: the unity of the State and its political form, the parliamentary monarchy.
After the failed investiture of the popular candidate, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the second candidate appointed by the King, Pedro Sánchez, opened a negotiation with the parties that intend to liquidate the ’78 regime in order to obtain the necessary votes to remain in La Moncloa. Of all of them, the most difficult force has been Junts, led by a fugitive from Justice, Carles Puigdemont. After having accepted all its conditions, today Sánchez signs the payment of the last invoice, the one presented by the PNV. This ensures the investiture, next Thursday, with 179 votes in favor: PSOE, Sumar, ERC, Junts, Bildu, PNV, BNG and Canary Coalition. This last party, with only one seat in Congress, is against the amnesty but will vote in favor of Sánchez in exchange for commitments included in the so-called Canarian Agenda.
The balance of the long weeks of negotiations is summarized in two words: complete transfer. Socialist weakness distills from the signed agreements. The PSOE has been forced to accept all the claims of its interlocutors, including those considered unconstitutional by Sánchez himself, the majority of the ministers and the main leaders of the party. The first and most significant concession has been to approve an amnesty law for all those convicted and prosecuted by the process. But there is more.
The Basque nationalists had the ace up their sleeve of being able to guarantee Sánchez an investiture in the first vote with an absolute majority. They have negotiated discreetly, regardless of the external noise caused by the talks in Brussels with Puigdemont. However, its list of demands, all admitted, is substantial. In your case, the agreement signed between the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, and the acting president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, is an “investiture” pact that leaves the legislature pending compliance with the agreements. This is stated by Basque nationalist sources and confirmed by Ortuzar himself.
It includes a broad package of transfers from the State to the Basque Country – all those that were pending, including the economic management of the Social Security regime within a period of two years – and an expansion of the space for self-government in terms of labor relations. and promotion of Basque. Negotiations will be made on the “national recognition of Euskadi” and a “system of guarantees based on bilaterality and forality.” “This should give rise to a new political-legal personality for our country,” Ortuzar explained. Historical demands of the PNV are therefore included and with this reference is made to the priority of the labor agreements signed in the Basque Country and that the joint commission of the Concert has the capacity to set the global maximums of the remuneration mass of public employees. In terms of taxation, the economic agreement is reinforced, including new taxes. The powers of the Ertzaintza are also reinforced and the representation of Euskadi in the Spanish delegations that negotiate in Brussels is strengthened.
As a very symbolic finishing touch, it is also agreed to provide Basque institutions with 100 million euros in four years to promote Basque. This agreement will serve to guarantee the legislature as long as Sánchez meets the commitments made.
Junts was the most difficult file for the PSOE. A miscalculation of the timing and the conflicting sensitivities of the two Catalan independence forces placed Sánchez in a position of extreme weakness in the final stretch of their negotiations.
Carles Puigdemont, a fugitive from Justice, escalated his demands after seeing how the rest of the parties that have negotiated with the PSOE had achieved practically everything they wanted and, above all, after verifying that his rival in Catalonia, ERC, managed to take over flags as important as the amnesty law, the transfer of Rodalies and the forgiveness of 20% of the Catalan debt.
Puigdemont wanted an extra slice of the cake and demanded that the amnesty law proposal be adjusted to suit the interests of his party, expanding its scope of application to include as beneficiaries those convicted and prosecuted in cases with hardly any relation to the process Junts intends for all its members and associates to be cleared of any accusation. And he has even pushed for commitments to be made in line with the recognition of a future self-determination referendum.
Puigdemont has achieved symbolic triumphs and also concrete agreements. He has managed to negotiate face to face and in his own territory with Sánchez’s personal envoys; the recognition by them of his status as “president” without the qualification of fugitive and has assumed the independence story about what they call the “political conflict of Catalonia with the State.”
Its list of admitted demands also includes an expansion of the scope of the future amnesty, with recognition of what the independence movement calls lawfare – judicialization of politics – that is, those people who, according to Junts, are prosecuted by the courts of Justice for the simple fact of being independentists although their alleged crimes have nothing to do with the process but directly with corruption.
It is also agreed to undertake a negotiation to transfer 100% of the taxes to Catalonia and a table with an international verifier is created that will supervise compliance with the agreements. At this table there will also be negotiations on the right to self-determination and the possibility of ending up allowing a referendum. of independence in Catalonia.
It has been the easiest of all because its achievement was vital for the team led by Yolanda Díaz. The only possibility for the current acting second vice president to remain in power is to sponsor the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Even so, Díaz has pressed until he got the socialists to sign a government pact under which not only will seats be reserved for Sumar in the new Council of Ministers but, in addition, it will involve activating a radical program, essentially on the economic level. and social, which the PSOE in other circumstances would have resisted, aware that it will lead to problems with businessmen, banks and other parties that it also needs, as is the case of the PNV and Junts.
This agreement highlights measures such as the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours without salary reduction, the increase in the minimum interprofessional wage, the extension of birth permits, the definitive consolidation of the extraordinary tax on financial entities and large energy companies. and the effective application of a 15% Corporate Tax on the accounting profit or reducing domestic flights for which there is a rail alternative with a duration of less than two and a half hours.
Pedro Sánchez has given in everything that the Catalan republicans demanded of him. The amnesty is the most important concession, a measure that will erase the crimes committed by those who encouraged, promoted and carried out the attempt against the State, the disconnection laws, the illegal referendum and the unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia. The PSOE admits the existence of a “political conflict” and agrees to “dejudicialize it” while recognizing the need for the agreements on the future of Catalonia “to be endorsed by the citizens.”
At the same time, it will promote the work of the dialogue table between the central government and the Generalitat and will constitute a second parallel table between the two parties that will include a “verification mechanism” of compliance with the agreements reached.
In addition, it has accepted the comprehensive transfer of the Rodalies service – the Catalan commuter trains – to the Generalitat with the corresponding infrastructure and financing and has forgiven Catalonia 15,000 million of the debt it has contracted with the Autonomous Liquidity Fund, thus opening an inequality gap with the rest of the territories. This concession implies that the State assumes approximately 20% of Catalonia’s outstanding debt and will save the Generalitat close to 1,300 million in interest. The PSOE also admits the creation of a bilateral commission with Catalonia to provide this autonomy with adequate financing.
Added to this are extra annual transfers for the financing of the Mossos, new judicial bodies, penitentiary services, research and scholarships and study aid.
The BNG has only one deputy in Congress but this seat is also essential for Pedro Sánchez. Consequently, the Galician nationalists have achieved a commitment to have “compensatory measures analogous” to the debt forgiveness granted to Catalonia, even when Galicia has not made use of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund.
In addition, they have been granted a discount on tolls on highways for super-recurring users and for the transport sector.
They have also achieved the creation of suburban railways in Galicia before the end of the legislature and, before the end of this year, the activation of the transfer of all the powers included in its Statute.
An agreement has been signed with the Canarian Coalition that, although it was not essential to move forward with the investiture, helps Sánchez to expand the margin of his absolute majority and even boast of having stolen from the PP one of the few supports it has in The congress.
However, the pact with the canaries has a nuance. This formation does not support the amnesty law with which the PSOE has bought the votes of Junts and ERC and has already warned that it will vote against it when it is submitted to Congress for approval.
In exchange for betting on the investiture, Sánchez finally commits to executing before the end of the year the 100 million euros that he promised for the recovery plan for the island of La Palma as well as promoting a regulatory change in immigration matters for this purpose. that the powers of unaccompanied foreign minors are not the exclusive responsibility of the communities to which they arrive.
It has also been agreed to temporarily extend the 60% personal income tax bonus for residents of La Palma, as well as to establish in the next two years a new regional financing model that guarantees financial sufficiency. of basic public services.
