Pedro Sánchez has already decided who he wants as Meritxell Batet's replacement to preside over Spain's Congress of Deputies. Francina Armengol will be the candidate of the PSOE to obtain the speaker's position on the Spanish lower house. The Socialists (PSOE) are to meet this Wednesday, August 16th, just twenty-four hours before the constitution of Congress and the election of its governing Bureau (which has the speaker as its head), and it is here that Sánchez, the PSOE general secretary and acting Spanish PM will announce his proposal. It is well known that Sánchez has a good relationship with Armengol, the former president of the Socialist government in the Balearic Islands, who stood beside Sánchez when other regional barons of the party were strongly critical. In addition, Armengol's good relationship with the Basque and Catalan groups has been one of the reasons that facilitated Batet's withdrawal. For Armengol's candidature to be successful, the arithmetic of Thursday's vote requires that the Catalan and Basque pro-independence and nationalist parties - and in particular, Together for Catalonia (Junts) - give their support to the Socialist bid.
Her name has been in the air for weeks
In the last few days, it has become clear that, within the PSOE, Armengol is among the best positioned to be the new speaker of the Spanish lower house. She has been active in the Balearic Socialists since the 1990s and the party considers that "she has great experience and service in public parliamentary life". She was a city councillor in the Mallorcan town of Inca, then an MP in the islands' parliament, a member of the Mallorca island council, a deputy in the Congress of Deputies and in 2015 she became the first female president of the Balearic Islands.
On Tuesday, the PSOE announced their choice of the Balearic Socialist leader through a press release, considering Armengol a "politician close to the everyday reality of the citizens, representing the fight for women's equality, social justice and the commitment to social coexistence in dialogue". Armengol is also cited as "an example from a country that quite naturally lives among the richness that various languages that are spoken in Spain represent, in addition to being a leader committed to the ecological transition", say the Socialists. Armengol lost the presidency of the Balearic Islands in the May 28th autonomous community election, won surprisingly by the PP and able to form a government with Vox, which has already begun to carry out anti-Catalan language policies.
Armengol, in the hands of Junts
With Armengol's name, the PSOE has definitively closed the door to a possible speaker of Congress from outside the Socialists, and in particular the Canarian Coalition's proposal for a speaker from the Basque Nationalists, the PNV. As well, Armengol will need the support of Junts per Catalunya, whose votes have been erected as the key to the election of the Bureau and the investiture of the Spanish prime minister. In fact, the part of which Jordi Turull is general secretary are to meet on Thursday morning, just two hours before the constitutive session of the Bureau to decide what they will do with votes of their 7 deputies, headed by Míriam Nogueras.
It also remains to be seen what name Alberto Núñez-Feijóo's People's Party (PP) will propose. The PP are also set to bring their party executive and MPs and senators together on Wednesday afternoon to announce their proposal. In the event that Junts chooses not to vote for either of the major parties' candidates, the speaker's position would fall into the hands of the PP, which would make it impossible for Junts and ERC to set up their own parliamentary group, a step that will give them advantages in Congress such as more speaking time.
Other aspects that are still unknown is whether the PSOE will agree to there being a member of a party from one of Spain's peripheral national groups on the Bureau, which in the past has been common. As well, there is the question of whether the Bureau will agree for the first time to allow Catalan, Basque and Galician to be spoken in the Congress of Deputies, and if Pedro Sánchez's party consents to a parliamentary group for Junts and ERC..