Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), is content playing the role of a statesman: meetings with Mariano Rajoy, photographs on the steps of the prime ministerial residence as leader of the opposition, and cultivating his part as preferred partner for the Spanish government as it lays down a re-imposition of direct rule on Catalonia, in the face of the "xenophobic character" of new Catalan president Quim Torra. Almost forgotten is his discourse of a year ago on a "pluri-national" Spain, when he won the socialist primaries, advocating a reform of the Spanish constitution. The new strategy of the PSOE - one of Spain's two major political parties for 40 years, but with its position under threat in recent times - is to take a tougher line against Catalan independence in order to relaunch itself for the general election of 2020.
This week saw the confirmation of that. Sánchez called for the redefinition of the crime of rebellion in the Spanish criminal code to adapt it to current times – that is, to the independence process. What's more, the PSOE proposed a law change so that public officials would be required to declare their "obedience to the constitution" when taking possession of their posts, something which neither of the last two Catalan presidents had to do. The strategy, however, has been in force for longer than that: in April, the PSOE leader went on an international tour to help promote the Spanish establishment's narrative on the Catalan issue abroad, which was followed up a few days ago with a letter sent by the Spanish and Catalan socialists to their European counterparts to discredit the new Catalan leader.
The fact is that this course correction comes at a moment when nationalist issues are growing stronger within the Spanish political narrative, with the Citizens party (Ciudadanos, or Cs) waving the flag as it takes an especially virulent stand against Catalan nationalism, in its struggle with the ruling Popular Party (PP) for the right-wing electorate. This is in parallel with the slight fall in support undergone by the other competitor on the left, Podemos, since the imposition of direct rule in Catalonia under article 155 - a measure which Podemos opposed and took to the Spanish constitutional court, bringing the party heavy criticism from most of the Spanish media. Indeed, there are some analysts who imagine a future political table dominated by just three major parties, where the Catalan and Basque nationalists would not be necessary for the formation of a Spanish government.
PSOE sources recognize that their strategy involves an avoidance of making the Catalan conflict "a subject of debate" - that is, treating it as a question of state. This would allow, in the first place, the "construction of a wall", they say, against what they describe as the "supremacism" of Catalan president Torra and the growth of such ideas in Catalan society. Secondly, closing ranks with the PP and Cs would help to neutralize this element which they suspect could be growing, by avoiding disagreements with the other two largest parties. Moreover, this line would also differentiate them from the approach taken by Podemos on the left.
It seems that the new strategy has its basis in the field of opinion research, an area that appears to be of great concern to the new spin-doctor of Sánchez – who, it is speculated, told the socialist leader not to make excessive public appearances to speak about the independence process during the tensest months of the crisis, last October and November. For one thing, the survey data shows voters switching from the PP and PSOE to Cs. As well, the PSOE has long been going backwards in the regions with their own powerful nationalisms: Galicia, the Basque Country and Catalonia, where Podemos coalitions have been gaining ground from it.
Señor Torra, así no. Pase de las palabras a los hechos. No hay inconveniente en hablar, si su supremacismo se lo permite.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) 19 of mayo of 2018
Tal vez se crea por encima de quienes son o piensan diferente. Pero ni usted, ni sus predecesores, ni sus socios están por encima de la ley. https://t.co/KWVqcMXdzT
Translation: Mr Torra, this is not the way. Move from words to deeds. There is nothing wrong with talking, if your supremacism will let you.
Perhaps you believe yourself to be above those who are or appear to be different. But neither you, nor your predecessors, nor your partners are above the law. — Pedro Sánchez.
And so this is how the PSOE secretary general has swung the steering wheel with regard to nationalist issues since he was elected to the party leadership in 2014. After presenting a giant Spanish flag at a public event, the socialist leader then imposed an exclusion on the Catalan pro-independence parties ERC and PDeCAT in the negotiations for his attempt to form a Spanish government in 2016 – unless they renounced a Catalan referendum - and this, in spite of the rumours of them working with the PSOE to create a "Frankenstein" government in Spain. Then, to his defence of a pluri-national Spain but without regions having the right to secede, on to the suggestion of a territorial commission to reform the constitution, and ending up, a few days ago, facing off with the new Catalan president in Twitter, and labelling him as the "Spanish Le Pen".
And this erratic drift in its conception of the state, has now arrived to the point where the PSOE says that "the second time is easier than the first", in allusion to the new implementation of article 155 that could be applied if the Catalan government goes beyond legality. A transcendental about-face compared to the politics of Spain's former PSOE prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who gave the initial go-ahead to Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy before it was stripped apart by the Constitutional Court in 2010. A story which received its most ironic punchline a year ago, in the three-way debate for the PSOE leadership, when the Basque socialist Patxi López, who was facing Susana Díaz and Sánchez for the leadership of the party, asked: "But Pedro, do you know what a nation is?"