The Government and the PP, under the sign of threat | Spain

The week that begins will be marked by the courts with the statements of businessman Víctor de Aldama and Begoña Gómez, wife of President Pedro Sánchez. For the socialist leader and leader of the Executive there will be two appointments that mark him personally and politically, but neither calls into question the stability and fulfillment of the Government’s objectives. The General Budgets for 2025 continue to be the priority issue over any other issue, and the partners of the Executive maintain very different approaches, especially when it comes to economic matters.

Carles Puigdemont’s warnings to the President of the Government, expressed by Miriam Nogueras in Parliament in her question on Wednesday with the colloquial expression “move your ass”, represent the most serious threat, at least verbally, that the Executive has suffered since the investiture from a year ago. Added to this is that, since Saturday, the Government’s interlocutor in ERC is once again Oriol Junqueras, and his right-hand man in the Congress of Deputies will be Gabriel Rufián, who has accumulated enormous experience in negotiations.

Junqueras has achieved victory against strong internal opposition represented by Marta Rovira. A triumph for the former vice president of the Generalitat, but one that has left a divided party. 40% of the organization has not voted for him. Now it is time to strengthen the new executive and sources consulted from the winning sector emphasize the assembly idiosyncrasy of ERC, so the important decisions that remain to be made will be submitted to the militants. Junqueras’ new team has to decide whether to become part of the Government of Barcelona City Council, in addition to its vote in the budgets of the Generalitat and the State. Everything will be consulted with the militants, according to party sources.

Junqueras’ plan starting this Monday will be to be demanding, both with the central government and with the one headed by Salvador Illa in the Generalitat. The sources consulted assure that he will not open new folders and will focus on pending issues. The agreements with the PSC to make Illa president are at the forefront of the issues to be addressed, although the truth is that the bulk of them depend on Sánchez’s Executive. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has redoubled his efforts this week to make Catalan, Galician and Basque co-official languages ​​in the European Union. The economic cost will be assumed by Spain. This lawsuit agreed at the time with Junts is also defended by ERC. Irish Gaelic, which became an official language since 2007, is the example that the minister wants to follow. This approval has yet to be fulfilled, in addition to giving shape to the “unique financing” of Catalonia that the Sánchez Government seeks to carry out within a framework of improvement of all the autonomous communities.

Within ERC they recognize that Illa is on a good footing in her first months at the head of the Govern Catalan and that is how it is being perceived in a good part of Catalan society. The sources consulted are aware of this reality, although they defend that they will not be the ones who are going to become the exegetes of the socialist president. Republican militants will decide if they support Illa and Sánchez’s budgets. That is also the reality of Junqueras, whose leadership capacity has once again been revalidated, although today his party registers a strong division.

In the case of Junts per Cataluña, drawing up a political diagnosis seems much more complicated. Puigdemont has not been amnestied and a socialist president governs Catalonia. The theory that if Sánchez falls, a PP and VOX government will probably arrive is plausible, but this will not influence the actions of Carles Puigdemont and his party. It is also not possible to know if at some point Junts will reach an agreement with the PP, given their affinities in the economic field. The nineties have passed and it remains to be seen if this Convergència of Jordi Pujol and Artur Mas will return, say nationalist sources.

On the other ideological side of Congress, Vox’s threats and warnings put pressure on the PP, especially in the regional governments where a few months ago they broke their agreements. The president of the far-right party, Santiago Abascal, has recalled that, after leaving these Executives, the next stop is to prevent the approval of the budgets of those executives if the popular ones collaborate with the reception of immigrant minors. They are not bluffing, they will follow through. The regional presidents of the PP believe it.