2023-11-02 16:30:29
More than three months after the elections, Pedro Sánchez’s investiture is still not guaranteed and is going through a few decisive hours. The PSOE and Junts have not managed, for the moment, to close an agreement on the amnesty law, the heart of the negotiation launched between the socialists and the Catalan independentists to re-elect Sánchez as president.
Feijóo accuses Sánchez of taking Spain to the “constitutional precipice” and turning the Supreme Court into a “repressor” due to the amnesty
After progress in the talks in recent weeks that all parties agreed to describe as almost definitive, and which was reflected in the photo of the number 3 of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, with the former president Carles Puigdemont in his office of the European Parliament in Brussels on Last Monday, the negotiation between the socialists and Junts has encountered some obstacles, until now, insurmountable.
Specifically, the clash in the negotiation now focuses on a point in the articles that describes how far the amnesty covers and what cases would be excluded from it. The discussion between the PSOE and Junts addresses specific cases of convicted or prosecuted people who, according to the Socialists’ criteria, should not benefit from the law and which, for Puigdemont’s party, represent red lines.
The intention of the negotiating teams was to close an agreement that could be made official this Thursday to register the amnesty bill imminently and thus give way to the investiture plenary session of Pedro Sánchez at the end of next week. But plans went awry on Wednesday.
Throughout the day, conversations between both negotiating delegations intensified. The exchange of drafts was incessant even during the early hours of the morning and the meetings continued throughout Thursday morning. It is still not ruled out that the talks could be redirected because none of the negotiators openly talk about a breakup, despite the fact that so far it has not been possible to find an agreed solution to the obstacles that remained pending to be resolved and that have to do, mainly, with those cases that would be excluded from the amnesty law.
Although neither the PSOE nor Junts hide that the negotiation situation is going through very delicate moments, neither of the two parties considers the agreement ruled out. During the afternoon, the appearances of the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, together with the first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, are expected at the Barcelona headquarters of the Catalan socialists. An appearance by the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, is also scheduled. And Carles Puigdemont is expected to do the same from Brussels after bringing together the Junts leadership.
If the agreement is reached, the bill could be registered in Congress this afternoon and tomorrow, Friday, even be qualified by the Board, thus clearing the way for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. However, none of the people familiar with the negotiation are able to predict at the moment whether the obstacles that are currently preventing the agreement can be resolved in a matter of hours, days, or even whether they cannot be resolved. The latter circumstance would lead to the automatic dissolution of the Cortes on November 27 and the electoral repetition on January 14.
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