The Austrian author Peter Drucker, considered the most important philosopher of management theory in the 20th century, said that we must listen to what is said, but that it is even more important in a negotiation to listen to everything that is not said. In the difficult, complex and multi-edged negotiation that the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) are carrying out with the Catalan pro-independence parties, especially with Junts per Catalunya, the political situation, or rather the electoral situation, has made the playing field muddy and difficult. This is true even as many repeat in a parroting and self-interested way that the agreement is already a done deal and even offer dates for Pedro Sánchez's investiture, while others, by contrast, dismiss everything and predict a repeat election. There is a nervousness in Madrid because it is not known precisely what concessions the acting prime minister is making and the same edginess exists in Catalonia, where Junts is playing one game and Esquerra Republicana (ERC) another. We said it from the beginning: there is no joint negotiation strategy between the two Catalan pro-independence parties and they eye each other suspiciously.
And since it is hardly disputable that Junts has, at least on the face of it, better cards than ERC in the negotiation with the Socialists, this means that, according to many observers, their position will end up being subsidiary to that maintained by Sánchez with the Catalan president in exile Carles Puigdemont. The Republicans, naturally, have been fighting against this since the July 23rd election and, with a month left until the legal deadline for Pedro Sánchez's investiture expires, they have decided to do the closest thing to thumping the table and asking for a seat, remembering that they too have seven deputies in Congress, exactly the same as Junts.
Oriol Junqueras' message from Belfast, where he had talks with, among others, Gerry Adams, was that it is impossible for there to be an agreement if the Spanish government does nothing to reach one. Hours later, from Barcelona, the party took a further step by questioning a previously-unknown phrasing in the proposed amnesty law, which, in the preamble's recital of motives, the PSOE is alleged to have proposed stating that the Catalan referendum of 1st October 2017 was a crime. If this were the case, the independence movement could obviously not accept it in any way, as it would go against its own previous and present statements. Since the devil is in the details, it will be necessary to see how that wording turns out and that there are no surprises, since, as is well known, in Madrid there is a legion of state lawyers who always push things to the limit counting on the fact that, in the end, nobody reads the fine print. This already happened with the granting of the pardons to the independence process leaders; subtly, for example, in the reasoned proposal drafted by the justice ministry in the pardon granted to Junqueras in June 2021 it was said, in section 39, that "the post-criminal behaviour of the convict" was appreciated by the Supreme Court.
Beyond the amnesty, Esquerra has its focus on the transfer to Catalonia of the Rodalies rail service, over which the Socialists are keeping the handbrake on, since they have only offered to transfer the ownership of two sections, one of Rodalies de Lleida, already managed by Catalonia's FGC, and a second section of track between El Papiol and Bellaterra. The push for the transfer of Rodalies is being carried by ERC more or less on its own, as the Junts negotiators prefer to concentrate their efforts on other portfolios and for the Spanish government to fix the Rodalies mess at the moment with investments that need to be astronomically high. It is clear that the negotiations have entered an area of nervousness in the face of the silence of Pedro Sánchez, who is trying to keep as much control as possible over every sentence he utters to avoid closing any door, not even that of an election on January 14th.
Another issue altogether is that there is news that relativizes his silence. Like his proposal to hold an international peace conference to try to find a solution to the conflict in the Middle East, which, should it be held, could be in Spain and perhaps in Barcelona. It seems difficult for this type of initiative to be proposed so that it would be Feijóo who capitalizes on it. It's a hint, of course.