The partners embrace the Turull doctrine
BarcelonaPedro Sánchez is reaching the midpoint of his term at the worst possible moment, besieged by corruption cases and without having approved a budget, and with an opposition that is soaring in the polls. In this situation, if only one of the groups that voted for his investiture were to call for elections or a vote of confidence, the term would be over. But no one has done so. Not even Junts, which had already used the bogeyman of the vote of confidence to pressure the government in the past. On the contrary, the partners seem to have embraced what we might call the "Turull doctrine," that is, trying to take advantage of Sánchez's weakness, as the Junts secretary general explained, to secure compliance with the commitments of the term. In other words, the message to Sánchez is: either accelerate or fold.
In response to Gabriel Rufián, Sánchez hinted that he was opting for the first option, that of a "social shift." In reality, the Spanish prime minister has little choice but to put forward a new, bolder political agenda if he wants, on the one hand, to change the public conversation. The likes of Mallorca and Vicenç Vidal, when he started shouting "BOE, BOE, BOE!" throughout the entire term, seem like a pipe dream. But if we admit that today's debate is the closest thing we'll ever see to a vote of confidence, Sánchez has surpassed it.
At the other extreme, Santiago Abascal has done the same. He has attacked the two-party system, but especially the left. Both believe the scandal is an opportunity to wear down the two major parties and consolidate their respective positions.
Regarding the standoff between ERC and Junts, the opposition between Gabriel Rufián and Míriam Nogueras draws two parallel universes that the upcoming Spanish elections will have to break the tie. On the one hand, Rufián, following Bildu's example, has placed ERC in the sphere of Sanchismo, out of pragmatism, like the Basques, but also out of an ideological conviction that a PP-Vox government would be disastrous for Catalonia. In contrast, Nogueras maintains the classic equidistance of Convergència, criticizing both the Spanish nationalism of the right and the interventionism of the left. The upcoming Spanish elections will also have to break the tie between these two models of the independence movement's relationship with Spain.
Finally, the most surreal aspect of the session, apart from Feijóo's accusations against Sánchez about brothels (the Galician's difficulty finding the right tone is chronic: he always ends up going too far), is the PP's bitter attack on the PNV, which contrasts, as Rufián pointed out. It's hard to understand Feijóo's efforts at his party's congress to get a free hand to make a pact and, immediately afterward, to burn all bridges with a party to which he even offered a ministry during the 2023 investiture negotiations.
