With the presidency of Congress in the air, 24 hours after the constitution of the Cortes, the PSOE launched its candidacy on Tuesday with a profile clearly destined to win the support of the pro-independence party. The Socialists present Francina Armengol, 52, president of the Balearic Islands until last May, where she governed in coalition with nationalist groups to lead the Chamber. The movement of the Socialists takes place in a delicate situation for the government in office, whose negotiations with Junts are not advancing, with the threat that Carles Puigdemont’s party will not join the front to prevent the right from taking control of the Mesa del Congress in the constitutive session this Thursday. The pro-independence demands for an amnesty for those involved in causes related to the process continue to block negotiations.
The PSOE could hardly find a name more to the liking of the Catalan independence movement than that of Armengol. Eight years president of the Balearic Islands, she had among her government partners the Més coalition, in which the island branch of ERC participates. Armengol also maintained cordial relations with the Government of Carles Puigdemont before the independence insurgency of 2017. Sources from the ERC leadership expressed their satisfaction with the socialist candidate, who, even before going public, had also received public support from Sumar. “She is a person with whom you can work very well from the point of view of the left,” declared her deputy Enrique Santiago, general secretary of the PCE. “She has led two plural governments in the Balearic Islands, with Podemos and IU, and she has always known how to give plural work dynamics.”
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With Armengol in the equation, the independence movement will find itself in the position of voting for a very well-regarded candidate in those circles, who promoted the Catalan language in her eight years of government on the islands, or maintain her maximum demands and pave the way for that the PP take over the presidency of Congress. But, for now, neither ERC nor Junts consider that the profile of the woman chosen by the PSOE is sufficient to unblock the negotiations on the Chamber Table, a decisive body in order to control parliamentary time and the issues under debate.
Right now, there is a theoretical tie in the vote to elect the presidency of Congress, the third authority of the State. The PSOE, Sumar and their allies from the last legislature —counting ERC, EH Bildu, PNV and BNG— gather 171 votes, the same as PP, Vox and UPN. If Junts does not support Armengol, her decision would be made by the only deputy of the Canary Coalition, who maintains a total secrecy and who governs with the popular in the archipelago.
Junts has dragged the Socialists where they did not want, to enter into a political negotiation that goes beyond the organizational issues of Congress and that Pedro Sánchez planned to postpone until a later time when his possible investiture was discussed. Puigdemont’s party, according to sources close to the negotiations, demands guarantees that a legal procedure will be launched to alleviate the situation of dozens of leaders and activists of the independence movement with pending legal cases in relation to the process.
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In the PSOE, voices have emerged willing to study some formula equivalent to an amnesty, under the protection of the opinions of some prestigious jurists who believe that such a measure does not violate the Constitution. But the socialists do not now accept the terms and times that Junts demands, according to the sources consulted. The fact that the last word belongs to the ex-president who fled in Brussels makes it more difficult to find a way out. The PSOE is negotiating with the official leaders of Junts, while some of its partners and allies are discreetly sounding out Puigdemont’s entourage.
Junts’ position has hardened ERC, which in principle was satisfied with the offers of the acting Executive to guarantee it a parliamentary group in Congress and the presidency of a commission. Now the formation of Oriol Junqueras has presented more ambitious demands and greater political significance, although in his case they continue to stick to what are the strict powers of the Board of the Chamber. ERC calls for a commission of investigation into the alleged espionage of independentistas, that the co-official languages be introduced in Congress and that the debate on an amnesty law not be blocked. In the last legislature, the independentistas presented a proposal in this sense, but the Board did not admit it for processing, based on a report from the Chamber’s lawyers, who considered that the content of the initiative exceeded the limits of the Constitution. That is the opinion of many jurists, but there are also contrary ones, such as that of the until recently vice president of the Constitutional Court, Juan Antonio Xiol.
The minority partner of the Executive, Sumar, has also intensified in recent days the gestures towards the peripheral nationalists. Its leader, Yolanda Díaz, already announced days ago that she will present a proposal to introduce in Congress the use of co-official languages, hitherto restricted to the Senate. This Tuesday, two prominent leaders, Enrique Santiago and Gerardo Pisarello, publicly advocated pardoning the independentistas with pending cases. Pisarello, secretary of Congress during the last legislature and a new candidate for the Bureau, published an article in eldiario.es with the title “For a criminal oversight that helps unlock the future.” Pisarello explains that he does not want “old problems to disappear overnight by magic” but rather to overcome “entrenched grievances” to achieve a “freer and fairer coexistence”.
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