What good have nineteen meetings in Switzerland done?
MadridIn 2017, Carles Puigdemont thought that the Spanish government would negotiate self-determination with the threat of the 1-O referendum, and six years later, he believed it could do so thanks to seven key deputies in Congress and an international mediator. But the unity of Spain cannot be negotiated with either a PP or PSOE government. This is the main lesson to be drawn after nineteen meetings in Switzerland between Junts and the Socialists, as the former Catalan president revealed in his appearance without questions in Perpignan.
When Junts signed the Brussels agreement with the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) in November 2023 to invest Pedro Sánchez, they boasted that they had agreed on a different negotiation formula than that of Esquerra: there would be a mediator and there would be no advance payments or support for nothing – even if it conflicted with them – despite the fact that they were republican. Two years later, Puigdemont has acknowledged that the achievements are minor issues that could have been agreed upon in a Congress office. "We don't need to go to Switzerland to ensure that the self-employed's fees don't go up," he admitted. In short, fundamental issues such as Catalan in the European Union, the delegation of powers over immigration, an effective amnesty, and progress in resolving the political conflict have not arrived.
After two years reiterating that Junts was not part of any bloc in Congress, this Monday Puigdemont announced that Together "breaks support for the PSOE" and has decided to "exercise the opposition." What were you doing until then? Were you part of one of the two blogs or not? Have you supported the PSOE in exchange for nothing? The pro-independence party had seven key deputies who, with Sánchez in the Moncloa, served to make it relevant and extract rewards, but now that Podemos has distanced itself from the investiture majority, they have lost value. Meanwhile, the advances in self-determination were words from former President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero—PSOE's interlocutor in Switzerland—who advocated "advancing in the recognition of Catalonia's national identity."
Tacticism
The tactical bias attributed to Junts in constructing a narrative to justify an attitude in Madrid like the one it criticized ERC for could also be attributed to the PSOE. Why has Sánchez not yet met with Puigdemont? A political amnesty—recognizing him as an interlocutor by speaking directly—would be a way for the Spanish president to demonstrate that he cares about retaining Junts' support, but the pro-independence party's suspicion is that the Moncloa has never been interested in making the amnesty fully effective. In other words, Junts believes that Sánchez has already benefited from the Supreme Court's efforts to put spokes in his wheels. Their thesis is that Puigdemont's return ends Salvador Illa's "anesthesia" in Catalonia and, therefore, harms ERC and the narrative that the situation in the Principality has "normalized," as the PSOE maintains. In this hypothesis, Junts maintains that the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, has applied a timeframe when deciding on the amnesty that favors Sánchez's interests: the later the better.
Having decided that he will govern without a budget, nothing changes for the Spanish president, especially if Junts does not agree to a vote of no confidence with the PP and Vox. This way, he will be able to face the electoral period that opens in some autonomous communities and, eventually, the elections for the State, without having yielded an inch on the self-determination of Catalonia.
