The PP continues without speaking with Junts despite gestures for future pacts
Feijóo's formation has made moves on the Process in recent days that are for now mere rhetoric
BarcelonaTo oust Pedro Sánchez, the PP needs Junts and the populars' latest moves consolidate a shift on the Procés and Carles Puigdemont's party in particular. However, for the moment, it's all just simple rhetoric. As ARA has learned from various sources familiar with the PP and Junts, there are no contacts between the parties.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo's approach has not materialized into anything concrete, beyond the PP's evident change in discourse on Junts, from whom they still hope they might change their minds regarding an eventual motion of no confidence. The populars have gone from considering Puigdemont a "coup plotter"; considering that Sánchez had "betrayed" Spain by making a deal with Junts and proposing the outlawing of parties that promote declarations of independence, to turning the page and thinking about possible future alliances. The strategy that the populars had maintained until now had precisely caused Junts to want nothing to do with stable agreements with the PP, even though they have been agreeing on relevant votes in Congress for some time.
Three years ago, the mere act of appealing to Junts' votes for Feijóo's failed investiture provoked the strong challenge from the leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, who was against any contact with the sovereignists. Now, once re-elected after rebuilding bridges with the leadership, Fernández has not even raised his voice.
The secretary general of the PP, Miguel Tellado, expressed himself thusly on the SER at the end of last week: "It is 2026 and what happened in Catalonia in 2017 happened in 2017 and, therefore, it is not to be expected that we will continue to think exactly the same. Today the context is different, today the threat to Spanish democracy is not secessionism, the threat is the permanence in government of a criminal organization." Feijóo followed the same path last Saturday, from the Catalan PP congress, by calling for a new phase after the Procés: "We want to turn the page, we will not forget what the people of Catalonia have suffered. We have learned our lesson and we will not repeat it," he said. A shift that was rounded off this Monday by the brand-new secretary general of the Catalan PP, Juan Fernández: "The Procés was stopped through the rule of law and the ballot boxes [...] Public conversation should not revolve around this because it happened years ago," he stated, calling the debate "sterile".
The Popular Party is not considering presenting a motion of no confidence to lose it, but now they say it is "an ethical and moral urgency" to end Sánchez's government. As long as the Constitution is respected –as they already put in writing at the party's last state congress–, PP sources explain, the party would be open to reaching agreements with Junts. Tellado, in fact, said last week that with Junts they have closed "agreements that have allowed initiatives to move forward and deliver resounding defeats to Sánchez's government", in addition to highlighting "coincidences in economic matters".
Junts defends the Starmer route in Madrid so that, as in the United Kingdom, the head of government is replaced by another PSOE member and the majority of the legislature continues, closing the door to a motion of no confidence with the PP and Vox. The party recalls that the fact that they were sent to Waterloo to negotiate with Puigdemont was already indicative of the message they wanted to send to the Popular Party. Feijóo's party, at the same time, saw in this call that the possibilities were not real and did not want to move a finger, knowing the cost it would have for them to meet with Puigdemont in exile.
Despite everything, the left-wing parties are lashing out at Junts for the alleged rapprochement: ERC's general secretary, Elisenda Alamany, did so this Monday against "the recklessness" of "the whispers" between the PP and Junts, while the PSC spokesperson, Lluïsa Moret, regretted that "a rapprochement is increasingly visible". Comuns, for their part, asked Junts to clarify if they want a PP and Vox executive because they are "messing with" people, according to spokesperson Aina Vidal.
What they said and what they say
Deputy Secretary Elías Bendodo said in July three years ago that Puigdemont was "the head of the coup plotters in Catalonia" – the language after 2017 –, but in August of the same year he himself defended talking to Junts and PP MEP Esteban González Pons said that "the tradition and legality" of ERC and Junts "is not in doubt" beyond what "ten people" did with the Procés. What had happened in between to declare them valid interlocutors was that Feijóo had to go to the investiture and they needed support.
"We want to be the great house of real Catalonia, to talk about what concerns people," said Juan Fernández on Monday, emulating the great house of Catalanism and saying that they are not a party "that looks in the rearview mirror." In the background is the PP's need to open new doors that have so far been closed so as not to depend exclusively on Vox. And also the need to grow in Catalonia with a more moderate discourse if the plan is, as they insist, to double the results and obtain 12 deputies in the general elections next year.