The Congress of Deputies was immersed this Tuesday morning in two parallel realities. On the one hand, the highest power of the Spanish state buttressed the Bourbon dynasty as princess Leonor took her oath of allegiance to the Constitution on the day of her 18th birthday, an act of protocol which is itself included in the Spanish Constitution (article 61.2), surrounded in solemnity and symbolism and yet transmitting touches of modernity and renewal to an institution which has been worn threadbare by the scandals of the king emeritus, Juan Carlos I. But the other story of the day was the one experienced behind the scenes, in the corridors, where the Socialist leaders took it upon themselves to communicate that the investiture of Pedro Sánchez has been accelerated to the point where they are assuming that it will be held next week, with the text of the proposed amnesty law to be registered before this in the Congress of Deputies.
It is this, and not the liturgucal side, that is the central issue that occupies and preoccupies the world of Spanish politics. More than three months after the elections of 23rd July, the Socialist (PSOE) party is fully convinced that it has managed to untangle the knot of the investiture, and is on the verge of reaching an agreement with the Catalan and Basque pro-independence and nationalist parties through a multi-party understanding. On Saturday, Pedro Sánchez's fierce defence of the amnesty law before the PSOE federal committee was the first reliable proof that there was no turning back, and the photo sought by Together for Catalonia (Junts) of the president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, in talks with the organizational secretary of the Socialists, Santos Cerdán, was the confirmation that the negotiation is very much on track.
From the iconic image sent from Brussels - which is the second part of the photo in which Puigdemont appeared with Yolanda Díaz - the PSOE sees the evidence of how the knotty negotiation has been smoothed out. It was an hour-long meeting and, according to PSOE sources, legislative action for the entire legislature was discussed, and not just for the investiture. This is Sánchez's wish: to guarantee stability for four years and not turn every vote into an ordeal. However, the Socialists rule out that Sánchez will appear in a remake of the same photo with Puigdemont and nor will they stage a phone call, as happened with the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) president, Oriol Junqueras. While the off-stage conversations continued, Spain's right and extreme right attacked Sánchez over the photo of the Belgian meeting, which took place in an office presided over by a photographic image recalling the referendum of October 1st, 2017.
Investiture not yet fully tied up
Despite all of this, throughout the royal day this Tuesday, the feeling in Pedro Sánchez's team was that the investiture is in the bag, although not completely tied up, with "details" still to be closed, according to the circles of the acting PM. The idea is, first of all, to present the bill for the amnesty on independence process prosecutions to the lower house and, subsequently, to call the investiture debate for next week. According to Socialist sources, from this Sunday, November 5th onward, "any day is good" to ask the 350 MPs deputies to say yea or nay on their confidence in Pedro Sánchez. And why the 5th? Because that is the date on which the PSOE will announce the results of its consultation with party members, whose endorsement is required to form a government with Sumar and to obtain the support of the pro-independence parties.
At this point the dance of dates begins. Although other negotiations are still be closed with Catalonia - the end of the fiscal deficit, the transfer of Rodalies rail services and progress in the resolution of the political conflict- the PSOE gives the likely date for the investiture debate and first vote as Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th, although, given that Felipe and Letizia are abroad on those two days, they do not rule out starting on the 8th and concluding on Thursday 9th. The possibility of a second ballot two days later - necessary if one of the PSOE partners fails to vote 'yes' in the first vote - is not even considered.
Exaltation while princess Leonor takes the oath
Meanwhile, outside Congress in the Carrera de San Jerónimo, there was a parallel universe, which the cameras captured thread by thread. The Congress of Deputies provided the staging for a scene to confirm the continuity of the Spanish monarchy, suffocated in recent years by the problems of the former king Juan Carlos I, and with a great need to send messages and images of its modernization and renovation. Resolutely supported by the PSOE, Leonor de Borbón requested the confidence of Spaniards: "I ask them to trust me".
But unlike the same ritual performed by her father in 1986, when the entire legislative, executive and autonomous power of the state closed ranks with the Bourbons, the 18-year-old princess of Asturias arrives to find the massive pro-monarchist consensus is over: representatives of six political groups turned their backs on her (ERC, Junts, PNV, EH Bildu, BNG and Sumar), along with three ministers and two autonomous community presidents (Catalonia's Pere Aragonès and the Basque leader Iñigo Urkullu). The balancing act of Sánchez means accepting that the same parties he has to seduce to form a government are also snubbing the Crown. The day's assertion of the "plurality" of the Spanish state was made by Francina Armengol, who used her speaker's address to quote the Valencian poet Vicent Andrés Estellés, the Basque writer Felipe Juaristi and the Galician Xohana Torres.
Although showing little enthusiasm, the second deputy PM and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, the universities minister, Joan Subirats (Comuns), and the parliamentary spokesperson for Sumar, Marta Lois, did join in the applause of princess Eleonor's oath-taking. An ovation that lasted almost four minutes. In fact, the hall of Congress plunged into a veritable deafening clamor. "Long live the constitution, long live Spain and long live the king!" concluded Armengol's oath, supported by the shouts of the majority of deputies and senators, in a clear sign of adherence to the Royal House which ended with the playing of Spain's lyricless national anthem.