The screens follow one another like in a video game in Catalan politics. In the midst of digesting the result of the regional elections four weeks ago, on Sunday it was time to vote for the European elections. With the electoral hangover in tow, the deputies of the Parliament elected this Monday Josep Rull (Junts) as president of the chamber. Raquel Sans (ERC) and David Pérez (PSC) are vice presidents of a Table that has a pro-independence majority (four of the seven members), having a secretary from Esquerra and another from Junts. A distribution that, from the outset, could give priority to an attempted investiture of Carles Puigdemont and that could hinder the claims of the socialist Salvador Illa, winner of the Catalans on May 12. The PSC maintains that its options of reaching the Government remain intact and considers the composition of the Board as a parenthesis that must be skipped to reach the last screen: the presidency of the Generalitat.
Rull will start his term with the hot potato of having to decide who is the first candidate for president of the Generalitat that puts its support to the test. Salvador Illa (PSC) and Carles Puigdemont (Junts) defend having investiture options. The order of their appearance in plenary is not trivial and it is the responsibility of the president of the chamber to decide. If Rull, after the mandatory round of contacts with all parties, gives priority to Puigdemont’s bet, he will put Esquerra and the CUP at the crossroads of having to decide whether to support an investiture of someone who calls himself “legitimate president” (legitimate president). The yes of the independentists, Junts, ERC and the CUP, is not enough for an absolute majority, not even if the identity-based extreme right of Aliança Catalana joins the ordeal. For Puigdemont to reach president The abstention of the PSC would be necessary, something that is announced as unlikely.
Carles Puigdemont’s candidacy obtained 35 seats on 12M, seven less than the PSC list headed by Salvador Illa. Since the night of the scrutiny, Puigdemont and Junts have defended the idea that theirs is the most “coherent” bet to preside over the Generalitat. They allude to an alleged common front of the independence movement to achieve a bloc of up to 59 seats in the Parliament (counting the telematic votes questioned by the Constitutional Court). Junts alleges that, on the contrary, Illa only has the common members as natural partners, who have six seats, and criticizes in advance the legitimacy of any maneuver that incorporates other forces. He has even threatened that Junts will withdraw support for Pedro Sánchez in the Congress of Deputies if the PSC probes the PP to shore up its majority in the Parliament.
In reality, there is a sum that works out well for the socialists, without having to call Alejandro Fernández, head of the popular Catalans. An eventual agreement between PSC, ERC and the commons allows us to achieve a majority of 68 seats in the Parliament. A tripartite that would be a setback for Puigdemont’s plans.
Esquerra has the key that opens the door of the Generalitat. The Republicans have stated that the agreement sealed this Monday with Junts and the CUP by the Parliament Board does not serve as a clue to guess what plans they have for the investiture. Although they came to consider the convenience of fighting for the presidency of the Chamber, in the negotiations that ERC has held internally it has also been admitted that, leaving the responsibility in the hands of Junts, it is the post-convergent party itself that has to decide the rhythm and timing of the investiture. If Puigdemont finally does not obtain the necessary support to achieve the Generalitat, Esquerra will be able to shake off the responsibilities and will have a free track to support, then, the attempted investiture of Salvador Illa. Faced with a threat of a repeat election in the autumn, it is no small feat to be able to present oneself in public as the party that has avoided the parliamentary blockade, and the bill of 30 million euros that a repeat of the Catalan elections would entail.
Puigdemont has committed to returning to Spain when the investiture plenary session is held. Rushing the maximum deadline, it must be celebrated on June 25. At the expense of the amnesty law being able to take effect by then, the former president He would risk being detained if he crosses the La Jonquera border crossing without the legal protection of the amnesty.
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In this sense, the election this Monday of the Parliament Board impacts the purposes for electing the next president of the Generalitat. The campaign for the European elections has encouraged the parties to apply absolute discretion in the negotiations on the investiture, but once the appointment with the polls was over, this Monday the lights opened in the meeting offices. The PSC has set to work so that the Generalitat does not escape. Salvador Illa won the Catalans on May 12 and, since then, his team has maintained that his priority was to return to command the Palau, 14 years after José Montilla’s presidency. On that trip to Plaza Sant Jaume, a stop at the Ciutadella park, seat of the Parliament, was not contemplated. “The PSC is interested in what interests it, and the battle will be raised by the Generalitat,” said a person close to the Junts leadership this Monday in the parliamentary corridors.
To reach the 68 seats that would guarantee him a majority at his investiture, Salvador Illa relies on the six votes of the commons and puts himself at the expense of what Esquerra decides to do, with 20 deputies. In this way, in the engine room of the socialists he has prevailed in applying the strategy of prudence and temper. Tiptoe so as not to step on any calluses or cause grimaces of disgust in political rivals who may be potential partners.
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