The paradox of the second failed investiture of candidate Pere Aragonès, is that it took place at what is probably the sweetest point of the negotiations between the Republican Left (ERC) and Together For Catalonia (Junts), since the February 14th elections. After six weeks of disagreements, the negotiators of both parties have made enough progress from the first vote (last Friday), to the second vote (yesterday) for the animosity of the first day to be mitigated in this last parliamentary session.
Although the result was the same: 42 votes in favour (ERC and the Popular Unity Candidature -CUP-), 61 against (Catalan Socialist Party -PSC-, Vox, Comuns, Ciutadans -Cs- and Popular Party -PP-) and 32 abstentions from Junts; the aftertaste for the pro-independence members involved was not as acid as it was on the first day. Winks were made, not many, but enough for both parties to verbalise that this is a necessary pact, there is no possible alternative because this is what the voters wanted. The fact that PSC's presidential candidate, Salvador Illa, opted for a clearly confrontational speech, aimed at the pro-independence movement distances him, at present, from any possible pacts. This speech is interpreted as a desire by the socialists to win the unionist vote they do not yet have, before considering other types of ventures.
There is a certain concord in four aspects related to the negotiations between ERC and Junts: for the first time there are green shoots in the talks, which went wrong in all possible ways the last 40 days. The road map for the new term could be completed this week, aimed at lasting four years; next week the governance architecture and the distribution of ministries will be addressed -there will be at least two new departments-; and two conflictive issues will be left for the end, such as the management of European funds and the media, from advertising to the Catalan Media Corporation, which includes TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio.
In short, the long road to Aragonès’s presidency will be shortened if the current forecasts are fulfilled. In the future, the complexity of Spanish politics looms, with a PSOE who will manage the pardons for political prisoners based on its interests and not on its commitments. And the State Solicitor’s Office takes a back seat.