“Do you support the agreement to form a government with Sumar and obtain the support of other political formations to achieve the necessary majority?” It is the question that the PSOE brings to its militancy in order to legitimize not only the government pact with Sumar but also the agreement on the amnesty with Junts and ERC. A question that in the opinion of Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, is more similar to the “scratch game that you have to hit to know exactly the question.” The Castilla-La Mancha leader has confirmed that he will take a position against the amnesty within the Federal Committee, being the only dissenting voice in the face of a closing of ranks of the rest of the barons.
“We come to support a progressive agreement and to support our secretary general,” said Catalan Salvador Illa. “Any initiative that is to advance coexistence within the constitutional framework seems good to us,” said María Chivite from Navarre. “Any decision or agreement reached by the negotiating commission will be with the best interests in mind for Spain, Catalonia and Euskadi and has our trust and support,” endorsed the Basque Eneko Andueza.
“It seems good to me. It seems very close to what reality is”, has been the support of the Valencian Ximo Puig for the question approved by the leadership of the PSOE, it will last a week and can be voted electronically and also in person next Saturday November 4 at all PSOE headquarters throughout the country. “What is important is that there is an agreement and the way to a solution is of course, among other things, knowing that we all have to try to defuse a situation in which there was a fundamental error that came from those who initiated the process. But, In the end, what we have to do is get over this situation.”
For the Asturian Barbón, what we have to “seek are agreements that allow the governability and the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. I always support him. And that the framework in which this agreement has to move, I have said repeatedly, It’s the Constitution.” And he added: “I am convinced that if an agreement is reached on harmony, coexistence in whatever way, it will be constitutional. Because I do not expect anything else from my colleagues.”
Faced with this closing of ranks, Page stands as a reference for critics. “I think the normal thing is that when one has a position, he explains it within,” she said at the entrance to the meeting. “When it is said that what we are going to do as socialists is within the Constitution, someone may think that that is wonderful, but that is obvious. That is obvious, or are we going to try something that is purposely unconstitutional “It doesn’t make sense. And even less so as we are great architects of the Constitution. But the limits are not just the Constitution. Vox also fits within the Constitution.”
For the only socialist baron with an absolute majority, “there are many things that fit in the Constitution, that do not match the ideals, the values, the underlying principles of the Socialist Party. Therefore, I, my limit, at least mine, It is in the Constitution, of course, but also in our project, in our values ??and in our own coherence. For me the important thing is not that the PSOE does things in accordance with the Constitution, but if the parties with which we speak or discuss or make agreements, they also make them in accordance with the Constitution. What’s more, we start from the basis that what would be desirable would be to be able to make agreements with people who abide by the Constitution, even if they don’t like it at all.”
Upon leaving the Federal Committee of the PSOE, Page has withdrawn his rejection of an amnesty for the leaders of the process, but has valued the “step” that the acting president of the Government and socialist leader has taken by “directly addressing the problem that everyone the world comments in Spain” with “sincere and frank” arguments.
Page has not revealed what he will vote on in the consultation, which will take place between October 30 and November 4, but he assures that he thinks it is “good” that it be consulted and affirms that he will abide by what the militancy decides. “But one thing is to comply and another thing is to take communion,” she warned.
Furthermore, he has pointed out that it may not be “the first time that one thing is approved almost unanimously and after a while the opposite is almost unanimously thought.”
Despite being the only socialist representative who has expressed his rejection of the amnesty in the interventions that have taken place in the Federal Committee, Page has stated that he has not felt alone, and has been grateful to be able to speak “calmly.”
“I would have felt very bad if they had not let me intervene, but, on the contrary, I sincerely believe that they have listened to me with extraordinary attention,” said the Castilian-Manchego president, who acknowledges that on other occasions he has left the Federal Committee “with feelings most dramatic”, such as October 1, 2016, when Sánchez resigned as party leader.
