Junqueras lifts the veto on the PSC on the day he meets with Salvador Illa in the Generalitat

BarcelonaSalvador Illa has basically been missing two images since he took office in August: the meetings with the leader of the main opposition party, Carles Puigdemont, and the meeting with the president of ERC, whose formation his government depends on. This Saturday he has deleted the second from the list. Illa and Oriol Junqueras met in the Palau de la Generalitat for the first time in public, although contacts between them already existed in private, both before and after Junqueras revalidated the presidency of ERC last November.

The meeting comes at a particularly intense time in the relationship between the PSC and ERC, with the bilateral meetings between the State and the Generalitat in full swing. In fact, at the end of the meeting, the Government highlighted precisely the importance of this week "for the interests of Catalonia." The climate of the meeting was "cordial" and no new agreement was reported between the two political leaders.

This past week there has already been photography between the Territory Councilor, Silvia Paneque, and the Republican Secretary General, Elisenda Alamany, with details of the transfer of Cercanías on the table. And next week the meetings between governments will continue with special interest in the meeting of the Bilateral Commission on Monday and the economic meeting next Friday, where some news is expected regarding regional financing. The meeting with Junqueras was held at midday in the office of the President of the Government and lasted an hour and a half.

Before the meeting in Palau, Junqueras had participated in the national council of ERC, where he announced that the Republicans will negotiate with the Socialists to achieve improvements for the Catalans. Despite the obviousness of the announcement – the photo with Illa shows that negotiations are underway – the words of the Republican president are significant because, until now, he had maintained a public veto on this negotiation "until the PSC complies with the agreements." The distancing of the Socialists was precisely one of the main points of debate at the Esquerra congress held in December (and which still has a second part next March). For this reason, ERC has refused to negotiate the Generalitat's budget for 2025, arguing that the transfer of Cercanías, the forgiveness of the FLA – which could be specified next week at the meeting of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy – and the singular financing for Catalonia had not been completed. Junqueras has, in fact, opened the door to negotiating the 2026 budget with Salvador Illa.

Thus, Esquerra can be "a decisive force in a possible budget negotiation for 2026," stressed the Republican leader, who stressed that, among others, Esquerra will demand "more resources" for the defense and learning of the Catalan language, which it has received again this week. Bad news from the language usage survey.

And Carles Puigdemont?

Since becoming president, Isla has made two official trips to Brussels, but in neither has she met Carles Puigdemont. This photograph is still undated, although the president of the Government has not closed the door. In any case, Puigdemont's votes are necessary in Madrid, while Junqueras' are also necessary in Barcelona. This weekend, the leader of Junts is scheduled to meet with PSOE representatives in Switzerland to negotiate the transfer of immigration powers to the Generalitat. The debate next Tuesday in the Congress of Deputies depends on the success of these contacts: if there are no changes, Junts will argue that Pedro Sánchez should submit to a vote of confidence and, despite it being a non-binding vote, the Spanish president could have to accept a symbolically relevant defeat, showing that he does not count on the corpse.

Junts has been calling for "political amnesty" for Puigdemont for some time - beyond the judicial amnesty, which is stopped in the courts. That is, the photo of the former president of the Government with Pedro Sánchez, as the interlocutor of his government. The image with Salvador Illa would also contribute to legitimizing him as the leader of the opposition – the position is vacant, although Puigdemont leads the main opposition group – and also as former president of the Generalitat: Illa has met with everyone else except him.