The Spanish Socialists (PSOE) are uneasy, it seems, because its leader in Catalonia just can't get the poll numbers that the party wants in the long lead-up to the next elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, which will be held on 14th February. Miquel Iceta has steered the party through the crisis that formerly existed between those who favoured simply aligning themselves with the pro-Spain unionist bloc and those who wanted the Catalan branch of the Socialists (the PSC) to mark a path of its own, a very small group after the diaspora of those who had been at the heart of the party's trajectory: Nadal, Geli, Maragall, Comín and so many others, who are today spread across JxCAT, ERC, or have simply quit politics.
The course that Iceta set ingratiated him to the PSOE, or rather, to a part of the PSOE because the truth is that the Spanish Socialists have always seen him with suspicion because he has his own agenda.
Now, heading towards February's elections, Iceta has some force behind him. So much so that he seems a clear candidate no matter how hard they try to pull out his chair from Madrid. The fact that health minister Salvador Illa has carved out a niche and is draped in Pedro Sánchez's protective cloak does not seem enough to send him to the Parliament of Catalonia. First, there would have to be a circumstance which has not occurred and that is, that Iceta would resign as candidate. Possible? Yes. Probable? No. One thing is what the prime minister had in mind when he appointed the PSC's organizational secretary as minister so that he would acquire a name - and even so that people might think Iceta had burnt out as a candidate after his many years in public life - and another is that with the outbreak of the pandemic there is any room to relieve the health minister in a reasonable fashion.
In Sánchez's circle, there is concern that Iceta will not be able to weave enough complicities to have any effect on a future Catalan government and they believe that Illa is much more capable. If this is what worries the PSOE leader, he doesn't know Iceta, who is perfectly malleable to any circumstances. He wouldn't have remained on the front lines of politics since the 80s unless he had thoroughly developed those skills. Another factor to keep in mind is Iceta's support for Sánchez's rival Susana Díaz at the last PSOE leadership battle.
In any case, the fact that the PSOE's interest in moving Iceta's chair has become public is significant. There's no smoke without fire. We'll have to be on our guard.