Junts slams the door on Sánchez
Junts' decision to veto all the laws that the PSOE and Sumar parties have pending in Congress, with the exception of those they had already agreed upon, is a further step in the rupture announced by Carles Puigdemont in Perpignan and adds complexity to a Spanish legislature that has not had a moment's respite since its inception. The reasons given by Junts, basically Pedro Sánchez's failures to deliver on promises, are understandable, but the decision also carries risks for the party, which will now be forced to join forces with the PP and Vox to defeat the main projects of the Spanish government, some as sensitive as the law on the social inclusion of people with disabilities or the tax reform.
"The legislature is blocked," declared Míriam Nogueras. And it is true that in another political context this announcement would have brought down any government. But unfortunately for Junts (or perhaps not), Spanish politics operates on a different scale. Pedro Sánchez has long been aware that he lacks a functioning majority in Congress, specifically since Podemos split from the Sumar group and proclaimed, in words very similar to Nogueras's, that he considered the legislature exhausted. And yet, he has decided to continue because he does not want to hand over the government to a right wing that wants to see him in prison (Aznar). saidAnd, as president of the executive branch, he has sufficient levers of power to survive in such a hostile environment.
It cannot be ignored that Junts has also made this decision pressured by polls that predict a significant rise for Aliança Catalana at its expense, and therefore it is a way of trying to stem the flow of votes from its most die-hard and right-wing electorate to Sílvia Orrio's party. But at the same time, it is also a renunciation of the essence of politics, which is negotiation, both in the Congress and in Switzerland. One of the major shortcomings of the Brussels Pact, which was for representatives of the Spanish government to sit down in Switzerland with an international mediator to discuss Catalonia's place within Spain, has now come to nothing.
With Sánchez's investiture, Puigdemont may have disappointed some of his supporters, but he had also managed to become the representative in Madrid for certain sectors that until now felt orphaned. What will happen now when the self-employed ask Junts to secure improvements on their behalf in the laws passed by Congress? Will they refuse to negotiate? Junts maintains that the business sectors with which it had recently reconciled applaud its decision to block Sánchez's legislative agenda, but what about the voters?
The conclusion is that slamming the door on Sánchez is much easier to announce than to execute. And that carrying out the parliamentary blockade could also have significant costs for Junts. However, it is also true that Pedro Sánchez only budges when he is pushed to the limit. And that is what Junts seems to want, more than to bring him down. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that, sooner or later, negotiations will resume.
