Lessons from the superplenum of January 10

The political teachings of the plenary session of Congress on January 10 probably form the most relevant theoretical, tactical and strategic body of the XV Legislature, whatever its duration. It is up to the government leadership and the leadership of the PSOE to appear and convey normality, arguing that the parliamentary numerical reality is imposed, but the extreme diversity of the groups that support the Government will lead to situations of unexpected tension and compromise. Only communion and communication is observed between the PSOE and Sumar, with the common denominator of wanting to agree despite the discrepancies, which there are and will be. Junts and ERC distance themselves and openly rebuke each other. That factor will work against the Government. The warnings are given: Junts will force its relationship with the Government to the maximum with last-minute surprises.

Without fuss, the socialist interlocutors who experienced the tension of Wednesday's super plenary session assume that changes will have to be introduced: less improvisation, less haste, more dialogue, more laws, reducing decrees to a minimum and taking care of the rest of the necessary operators who do not They are the Catalan independentists. Social dialogue with unions and employers is on the first page of the tasks. The second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, once again puts on the negotiating cape that she wore for more than a three-year period. Not she, but the socialist part of the Government, will pay more attention to Podemos, although in the PSOE they maintain that it was not the contents of the decree on unemployment benefits, but other factors, that led Ione Belarra's group to demolish the norm in Congress.

The obligation of the President of the Government is to show security and try to give certainty to citizens, they explain in government media, and they believe that Pedro Sánchez is trying hard to do so. In this Sunday's interview with EL PAÍS he leaves no room for defeatism, no matter how much everything that happened in the plenary session of Congress last week, officiated in the Senate due to works in the Lower House, caused unrest in its ranks. Just over two hundred socialist parliamentarians, including deputies and senators, representatives of all the provinces of Spain, are a very precise thermometer of the discontent of that organization. Not only because of his perception and personal convictions, but because of his knowledge of the feelings of the electorate, from Ribadeo to Jerez de la Frontera. The numerous interlocutors consulted confirm, first of all, that the unity in the PSOE does not suffer any decrease and the confidence in its general secretary is solid, without being shaken by criticism from some relevant sectors or personalities. This organic tranquility coexists, however, with the restlessness produced by the obligatory relationship with Junts and the contagion effect that its escalation of demands may have on ERC. The next amnesty law has not yet been adopted, still at the beginning of its processing, when the real and potential electorate of the PSOE must incorporate new and unknown demands of the post-convergents, say concerned socialist leaders.

The delegation of immigration policies has overflowed the camel's back. The Government's explanations, contradictory to those of Carles Puigdemont's party, increase uncertainty. The president has assured this newspaper that “expelling the emigrants is the responsibility of the central Administration.” The issue is of such magnitude that it has jumped into the public debate in Catalonia where the PSC, ERC, En Comú Podem and the CUP attribute to Junts a growing concern about the influence of the pro-independence extreme right, focused on identifying crime and immigration, which It drags them into xenophobic positions.

But not only that. In socialist, Sumar and ERC sources, attention is drawn to Junts' announcements and explanations and the real path they may have. Some talk about “smoke.” The fact that the Government has not presented a document on what was approved, and that the only version that exists is the one issued in a Junts note without letterhead, does not help to make way for clarity. The versions remain contradictory, pending the negotiation of an organic law. “The important thing is what is approved” they repeat in the Executive.

The meeting of several hours this Saturday of the entire Government at the Toledo estate of Quintos de Mora, property of the State, scheduled several weeks ago, served to review the project agenda. There is a lot to do in social, economic, cultural and rights policies, which have nothing to do with Catalonia and the negotiation on amnesty and competition demands, they point out in La Moncloa. It is not an easy task for them to manage to superimpose that agenda on that of the independence demands. On the other hand, the PP will try to reinforce the opposite message: the Spanish Government only works for the Catalan independence movement. The episodes of January 10 give wings to Alberto Núñez Feijóo so that in February he begins his return to Spain with that message.

_