The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said this Thursday that the result of the Catalan election of May 12th "closes a decade of division and resentment and opens a new time of understanding, coexistence, collaboration and prosperity". "We were right to go in the direction of forgiveness, generosity and re-encounter," the Socialist leader said. Since the Catalan election was held last Sunday, Sánchez had only made an assessment of the results through a post on his X social media account. Now, four days later, he asserts that the incontestable victory of the Catalan branch of the Socialists (PSC) and the loss of the absolute majority by the pro-independence parties is "highly significant" because it shows that "coexistence and re-encounter generate social well-being".
Pedro Sánchez's takes the credit for the end of a "decade of division": "In politics, as in life, problems are resolved confronting them directly, without avoiding them, making them chronic, or even exacerbating them, like the previous PP administration did."
Sánchez made this assessment about the Catalan election in an event on European Funds organized by the digital daily elDiario.es. In his speech, focused almost entirely on the economy, he included a section focused on the result of the Catalan elections, which he said had been "beneficial for all of Spain". "We did it alone, with a destructive and furious opposition facing us, but we were right, those of us who thought that the unity of Spain is not constructed with territorial confrontation, but through a project of social progress", he argued. In fact, he gave the view that the contradiction in the opposition People's Party (PP) on the conflict between Catalonia and Spain is "surprising", as the Catalan PP leader Alejandro Fernández affirmed on election night that the independence process had been overcome, while Alberto Núñez Feijóo has said the complete opposite.
It is the first time that Sánchez has spoken about the result in Catalonia since Sunday. But it is not the first time that he has transmitted his ideas. Through the spokespeople of the Socialist (PSOE) party and the Spanish government, he already did so on Monday and Tuesday. Minister Pilar Alegría urged Together for Catalonia (Junts) and the Republican Left (ERC) to understand the "message from the ballot boxes" which was "so clear", and thus to allow fellow Socialist Salvador Illa to preside over the next government of the Generalitat. The PSOE also spoke in a press conference ruling out any intervention from Madrid in the party negotiations following the Catalan election. Esther Peña, spokeswoman for the Socialists, urged ERC not to block an investiture of Salvador Illa and promised Carles Puigdemont that the PSOE would continue "complying with the agreements" if Junts is left out of Catalan governance. "The government of Catalonia will be decided from Catalonia, neither in Madrid nor anywhere else," said Peña.
The negotiation tables, frozen
The PSOE had decided to freeze the two negotiation tables it has in operation, with Junts and ERC respectively, until the Catalan election were held. Now that the votes have been cast, they will stay in the freezer a little longer. Spanish government sources believe that the tables should not resume until after the current "electoral framework" - which includes the European elections on June 9th - and until they "know which interlocutor is on the other side of the table", in reference to a possible departure of Carles Puigdemont from the political front line if the alliances reached in Catalonia do not allow him to preside over the Generalitat.