The buried war between Feijóo and the leader of the Catalan People's Party (PP) over the pacts with Junts

MadridAlberto Núñez Feijóo is preparing the ground to achieve the presidency of the Spanish government not only by surrounding himself with a new team but also by outlining a policy of pacts that will allow him to reach the Moncloa Palace. Currently, the only party he can count on in Congress for a vote of no confidence or, later, for a hypothetical investiture is Vox. The PP leader, who has been characterized by back-and-forth on the matter, wants to leave the door open after this weekend's congress to future understandings with other parties, such as Junts, which he has been asking for several days to question whether it is really in their interest to negotiate with Pedro Sánchez. But this is a strategy that the leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, is trying to avoid through amendments to this weekend's congress.

"I have never lied to Mr. Puigdemont. Mr. Sánchez has lied constantly. He has swindled him with this alleged amnesty, which I said from the beginning was unconstitutional, and I maintain," said the president of the Popular Party in an interview on Wednesday in Antenna 3. Ester Muñoz, who will become the spokesperson in Congress starting next week, insisted this Thursday. Muñoz again asked Junts if they "want to continue in the hands of a liar" and opened the door to dialogue "always within the Constitution." "What's important is not what, but what," argued the current deputy secretary of the Popular Party, who expressed a willingness to agree on "improvements" for citizens with all the parties that agree, with the exception of EH Bildu.

In recent months, the PP and Junts have already agreed on several votes in the lower house—mainly to defeat left-leaning initiatives of the Spanish government or as a wake-up call—but Feijóo's relationship with the junts faces a major stumbling block. The pro-independence party responded to the PP's attempt to establish contact within the framework of the round of talks with the investiture partners. to explore whether they maintained support for the PSOE after the outbreak of the Santos Cerdán case, with a demand that the Popular Party rejects. For Junts, it is essential that Feijóo agree to meet with Carles Puigdemont in Waterloo. A gesture that not even Sánchez has yet made. The PP, on the other hand, expresses its willingness to speak with Míriam Nogueras, spokesperson in Congress.

Another condition facing Feijóo is internal. Despite the placidity with which he faces the three-day party congress, where no one is expected to question him, and even more so now that the PSOE is at its lowest ebb, any rapprochement with the independence movement activates the antibodies of the party's hardest wing. The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, already issued a warning on Tuesday about dialogue with Junts, and the president of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, is currently keeping an amendment to the political report of the congress that vetoes agreements with the independence movement.

The reluctance of Alejandro Fernández and the PNV

Génova is currently negotiating with Fernández, who does not have the support of the entire Catalan PP, to try to avoid any dissenting voices during the debate on the report. PP sources consulted by ARA explain that nothing is finalized yet, but there is room to announce this agreement, avoid disagreements in this area, and leave the congress with all possible options at their disposal, despite external constraints that could thwart the path to rapprochement with Puigdemont. Another party of the plurinational majority with which they might find greater ideological common ground on economic matters, the Cerdán case, has also so far destroyed any bridges.