Why doesn't the PP make fun of Catalan in Europe?

BrusselsCatalan's official status in the European Union still stuck, but both the Spanish and Catalan governments are showing more optimistic about the initiative, which would at least allow it to be discussed in the European Parliament. The main fear was that the PP would definitely make her stumble and turn her into one of its electoral battle horses against Pedro Sánchez's executive and its agreements with Junts and Esquerra. But it did not happen. The Popular Party puts up obstacles, but, for the moment, avoids making noise against the use of the three co-official languages of the State in the European Parliament and they do not make a great publicity against it. Why?

Several European parliamentary sources point out to the ARA that the populars fear that the political noise will turn against them, especially if the initiative ends up bearing fruit. It should be remembered that, despite their opposition, it would be enough for the Left group and the liberals to vote in favour and add to the support of the social democrats. That is to say, the conservatives cannot veto the measure and, therefore, they do not have all the power to prevent it from finally being approved.

Along the same lines, another European parliamentary source points out that there is a part of the PP that prefers not to strongly oppose Catalan because they consider that some of their potential voters would not fully understand it. However, it should be remembered that in the previous legislature, the popular group promoted a European Parliament investigation mission against the linguistic immersion of Catalonia. "Perhaps votes would be lost. This is probably not the case in Catalonia or the Basque Country, but perhaps in Galicia," the same source clarifies.

Beyond the Spanish Popular Party, the president of the European Parliament, the also conservative Roberta Metsola, also does not want to find herself in the middle of an electoral battle between the PP and the PSOE. In addition, she publicly prefers to avoid showing herself in favour or against a measure that could potentially raise a storm in Catalonia and throughout the State, although in private she leans more towards the position of the conservative family, according to various European parliamentary sources.

Putting negotiations to sleep

There is yet another reason why the PP prefers to keep a low profile. Several MEP sources explain to ARA that the Popular Party wants to avoid completely breaking ties with Junts and the PNV, two of the Moncloa's main parliamentary partners in Congress. The sources point out that they want to keep this bullet in the chamber in case one day they need to have a counterpart to convince the junteros and the PNV in some important vote in the lower house and, in this way, make life even more complicated for Sánchez. For this reason, the PP is not interested in blowing up or accelerating the negotiations, but in putting them to sleep and holding on to this ace up its sleeve as long as possible.

However, sources from the Junts leadership assure that the only contacts it maintains with the PP are through the spokesperson for the Junts in Madrid, Míriam Nogueras, and only for matters of parliamentary procedures, in no case for issues related to a hypothetical motion of censure.

The liberals hold the key

The European Union and Foreign Affairs Minister, Jaume Duch, said in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio last September that he was confident that there would be an agreement "in months or a year." And, along the same lines, several European parliamentary sources indicate that no progress is expected until the meeting of the European Parliament's multilingualism working group next July. However, this does not mean that the initiative will be approved. Among other options, they point out that this working group may present a recommendation on the measure and then pass it to the European Parliament's table, which should ratify it and make a final decision.

The key to tipping the balance is above all in the hands of the liberals. On the one hand, in the working group, there are two voices a priori against the initiative: the Valencian Popular Party member Esteban González Pons and the Italian far-right member Antonella Sberna. And on the other hand, the Catalan socialist Javi López and another profile who is expected to be more in favour, Younous Omarjee (l'Esquerra). In the middle is the Slovak liberal Martin Hojsík.

It should be remembered that in the group of liberals there are no more Citizens and the PNV has remained. However, the natural ally of the liberals are the conservatives, who are the largest and most influential group in the European Parliament and are putting pressure on them to not give their approval, at least for the moment. However, MEP sources explain that the members of the working group, including González Pons, prevented the liberal Hojsík from taking the measure to the European Parliament's Legal Committee to find out if it would face any legal impediment, a decision that would have allowed both the party and Vox to give their opinion. Another move by the PP that shows, according to a MEP source, that at this time "everyone is interested in the negotiations being silent."