Sánchez lifts the ban and opens Moncloa Palace to the leaders of the Process

BarcelonaFirst came the pardons, then the amnesty and the governance agreements with the Catalan independence movement, and now comes the third step in the political normalization of Spain: Pedro Sánchez is opening the doors of La Moncloa (the Prime Minister's official residence) to the leaders of the independence movement. The first to walk through them will be, next Thursday, the president of the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), Oriol Junqueras, in a symbolic image that will also serve to confirm the reinstatement of the Republican leader as a key interlocutor for the Spanish government. Junqueras, vice president of the government that led to the October 1st referendum and a political prisoner for almost four years, will gauge the impact of such a meeting in the Madrid media.

The ERC and the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) have been partners for years in the de-escalation phase following the Supreme Court's convictions, which has allowed Pedro Sánchez to reach and remain at the head of the Spanish government. Sánchez and Junqueras themselves, in fact, have maintained more or less regular contact during this period. But the photograph was missing, something Sánchez has been resisting. The meeting will not negotiate independence or a referendum, but rather the new financing model that must be presented in the coming days, an eloquent agenda that fits like a glove with the new stage that has opened in Catalonia—the "Catalan oasis," as the business community defines it—which has seen political tension become apparent. But for normalization to be complete, beyond photographs, the PSOE needs to definitively close the legal case of the Process, which the Supreme Court refuses to consider closed. Carles Puigdemont remains the prime target for the deep stateDespite his waning political influence in Catalonia, Sánchez once sent Santos Cerdán, then his trusted confidant, to be photographed with him. Now, at a moment of extreme weakness for the PSOE, aligning himself with Junts might be a bad idea with the elections in mind, but keeping Puigdemont happy may be the only way for the Socialists to complete their term.