This is how the Catalan Alliance and Vox negotiate and agree in Parliament.

BarcelonaIntense negotiations, last-minute back-and-forth, and arriving at the Parliamentary registry 13 minutes late. This Wednesday, the Catalan Alliance and Vox were negotiating against the clock on a motion by Silvia Orriols' group against the Islamic veil, which will be voted on today, Thursday, in Parliament. The proposal will not be passed—Juntos, ERC, PSC, Comuns, and the CUP will reject it—but it will show how the two far-right groups in the chamber share positions. In fact, according to various sources consulted by ARA, a dynamic of negotiation has been established between them.

The "harmony" between Vox and the Catalan Alliance not only materializes in the political issues they share as far-right and Islamophobic parties, but also in their good personal relationships. There are several factors influencing the positive climate between the two groups, according to knowledgeable sources: both are isolated by the cordon sanitaire established by the majority of the plenary session, they have offices directly opposite each other in the Parliament, and they also share programmatic elements beyond national differences. In fact, the affable and fluid relations between the Catalan Alliance and Vox can be seen in the corridors of the Catalan parliament, where they can be seen greeting each other and chatting cordially and amiably.

In the case of the negotiations on the motion calling for a ban on the Islamic veil, Vox presented a series of amendments that resulted in two compromises with Silvia Orriols's party: two amendments were rejected and the rest accepted. Sources from the Catalan Alliance emphasized on Wednesday afternoon that the final text was still being finalized.

Against the ERC MP who wears a veil

Ignacio Garriga's group is the only one that has reached an agreement with the Catalan Alliance, but the agreed text entered Parliament's registry 13 minutes after the deadline. A delay that knowledgeable sources attribute to the "inexperience" of Sílvia Orriols's party. The committee will decide this Thursday whether to accept it.

Among other things, the Catalan Alliance has reached an agreement with Vox on a controversial point of the motion to establish "an internal rule in Parliament that prohibits [...] the visible use of any Islamic item that violates the dignity of women and attacks our customs and our identity." This point was designed to prevent ERC MP Najat Driouech from wearing the veil. Initially, she held a secularist perspective, but limited herself to the veil.

Likewise, the Espanyol supporters have also convinced Silvia Orriols's party to defend "Christian tradition" and remove "secularist" references from the text. "Secularism can also prohibit us from wearing the cross on our chest," say Vox sources. The Catalan Alliance has only rejected two of the Espanyol supporters' amendments: one to remove the definition of Spain as an "artificial" state from the text—they rejected it "with laughter," according to the sources—and another in which Vox sought to eliminate the reference to the doctrine of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. The Spanish far right, closer to Hungary's ultras, called for a ban on the veil based on values and identity, and not so much on jurisprudence as the Catalan Alliance, closer to Marine Le Pen's style, wanted.

In any case, the motion will be rejected by a large majority of the chamber.