Juntos and PSOE intensify negotiations in Switzerland to close an agreement on immigration

BarcelonaNext Tuesday there is a date circled on the calendar: the debate on the question of confidence that Junts has raised with the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, in the Congress of Deputies. For this reason, the members of the Junts and the socialists are intensifying negotiations this weekend to try to unblock what has led them to this crisis: mainly, the transfer of immigration powers to the Generalitat. According to several sources consulted, Switzerland is expected to be the scene of meetings between this Friday and Saturday, but also that there will be permanent contacts until the last minute. "It is the style of the PSOE," says one of those consulted.

According to what they have advanced Ok Diary and The Vanguard, this Friday there was already a first meeting in Zurich. The reef remains the same as before Christmas: Juntos demands that there be a "comprehensive" transfer of the powers in immigration that the State now has, through article 150.2 of the Constitution, which allows the delegation of powers to the autonomous communities, while the Spanish government is reluctant to give in on what has to do with control. Likewise, the junteros also demand that, once the powers are transferred, the Parliament can legislate, for example, on residence or work permits, which it wants to link to the Catalan language. "If there is no comprehensive transfer, there will be no agreement," the party leader in Madrid, Míriam Nogueras, has repeated on several occasions. "We want the Mossos at the border: whoever arrives must receive a first "good morning"," she often points out.

One of the models that the PSOE and Junts have explored to try to reach an agreement This is the case in Bavaria. In this German state, there is a separate border police force. However, the Constitutional Court ruled that border control was an exclusive competence of the federal state and there was an overlap of powers. According to information provided by the Bavarian police on its official website, An administrative agreement between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Bavarian state government has been in place since 1 August 2023 to ensure that regional police control cross-border traffic. This means, sources in Germany explain, controls near the border and within the state.

Possible clash

Even if negotiations intensify, there is also the possibility that no agreement will be reached. In that case, the debate on Tuesday would stage the clash between the government partners: Junts would vote with the opposition, symbolically withdrawing confidence in the Spanish president. Although this debate has no practical effect, it would clearly show the weakness of the Spanish government and that Sánchez can no longer count on the majority that investigated him. In any case, Moncloa has made it clear that the president will not present any formal motion of confidence nor will he bring forward the elections.