The Catalan president-in-exile, Carles Puigdemont, has warned in a media appearance from Brussels that the stability of Pedro Sánchez's Spanish government in the new legislature will depend on permanent negotiations that deliver results. In other words, if there are no agreements and commitments are not fulfilled, "the legislature will have nowhere to go". He warned that "unlike in the last legislature, in which Pedro Sánchez's government started with guaranteed stability in its pocket, here it will have to be won agreement by agreement". "The concept of 'with nothing in return' has gone into the dustbin of history", he replied, distancing today's pact which his Together for Catalonia (Junts) has reached with the Socialists (PSOE) from the one made by the Republican Left (ERC) four years ago, which allowed Pedro Sánchez to maintain the previous legislature.
Puigdemont: "The stability of the government... will depend on permanent negotiation, whose results will have to be complied with along the length of the legislature"
Puigdemont appeared at the Press Club in the Belgian capital after, as ElNacional.cat had informed on Wednesday, the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, and the organizational secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, signed the agreement this Thursday which guarantees that the seven Junts deputies will support Pedro Sánchez's investiture as Spanish PM, a text which includes the detailed commitment to an amnesty law, as well as with the opening of negotiations on the self-determination of Catalonia.
After signing the agreement, he admitted that "it is undeniable that the relations between the PSOE and Junts do not invite enthusiasm". "We would do ourselves no favours by denying the evidence," he added. And yet, he wanted to recognize the honesty of the two parties in recognizing the path that separates them and the difficulties it will bring. "Let no one be deceived, we have a lot of work and little time to do it," he replied.
From his Belgian exile, he explained that the criminalization of the independence movement is one of the main obstacles that this understanding will have to overcome, and for that reason two prior conditions had been set: eliminating the targeting of the independence movement by Spanish security forces and police, and the removal of any reference to the independence movement by Europol. Despite stressing that these two points, together with the amnesty, should contribute to the de-judicialization of the process, he also admitted that this will not be an absolute guarantee to end lawfare, and for that reason, investigative committees to be set up under the agreement must make possible the eradication of "rotten elements" that have taken part in this dirty war.
International mediator
Just as important key to the operation of this pact is that the negotiation must be arbitrated by the mediator agreed on by the two parties. "It cannot be someone Catalan or Spanish. Therefore, it must be an international figure", explained Puigdemont, who has also made it clear that, if he has to take part in the meetings, these cannot take place in the Spanish state. As explained in the agreed document, the first working session of the negotiating committee will take place this very month of November.
Puigdemont: "Naturally, if the mediator has to be independent, they cannot be either Catalan or Spanish... it must be an international figure"
Puigdemont reiterated that, to get to this point, his party had not had to turn the page on the referendum or declare that it had committed some crime. "We didn't have to apologize and we maintain our position," he said. "And it is from this position that we commit to a process of negotiation, not mere dialogue, with all that this represents. As long as the negotiation lasts and progress is made, we will fulfill the commitments we have made," he assured.
In fact, at no time did he hide his desire to distance himself from the agreements that the ERC made with the PSOE in the last legislature. "Let it be clear that to do what has been done and say what has been said, Junts has not done anything wrong", he stressed. He assured that, on the contrary, the pact signed with the PSOE opens an unprecedented new phase in which "no other limit has been set than the will of the people of Catalonia, expressed through Parliament" and that, for this reason, the document insists on reconfirming the 2014 consultation and 2017 referendum on Catalan independence.
The narrative of the conflict explained by Puigdemont story goes right back to the early eighteenth century Nueva Planta decrees and Catalonia's repeated attempts throughout history to obtain recognition, until concluding that "coexistence with Spain has become unsustainable".