Although finally not between embezzlement, and although the judgment of the Constitutional Court (TC) on the amnesty does not serve the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont to fulfill its objective of returning to Catalonia, the Government celebrates in advance the resolution expected by the end of the month. Those of Junts have maintained a prudence position, and in the Executive they come so up that they even believe that the decision of the High Court will open the door to that expected encounter between the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and Puigdemont.
Moncloa presents the next Judgment of the TC, on which it does not hesitate to endorse the constitutionality of the amnesty, such as the “final culmination” of the normalization of relations with the Puigdemont party, but in Junts, much more cautious, they continue to warn that only their return will allow the leaders of the “procés” to present themselves to the next Catalan elections. They are warnings that, in any case, no longer make a dent in the mood of the government, where they believe that Junts is “a victim of a process of weakening” of which he has no escape.
They assure that they have even lost the political battle because they have always been unmarked from the pardons promoted by ERC, for being an act of generosity by the government, while the amnesty presented it as a recognition of the mistakes made against Catalan independence. And now, they show in the government, they are transferring to public opinion the image that they are willing to continue accumulating resignations until Puigdemont sees their desire to return to Catalonia.
Although Junts insists on feeding the story of confrontation with the State, it is a message that with Salvador Illa in the Presidency of the Generalitat has a very short tour.
An expected photograph
The story of Sánchez’s expected photograph with Puigdemont is loaded with implicit symbolisms. Starting, the result of the general elections and the needs of parliamentary support of the Government endorsed the mutation, of a fugitive to political interlocutor, of Puigdemont, by becoming a key piece of governance.
Illa, that photograph is not bad. From its strength position, you think you can use it as the most graphic symbol of a political transformation process that was unthinkable and condenses a power strategy, an amnesty (very controversial) and a agreed normalization.
In any case, Junts is waiting to see how the debate ends within the Constitutional. Its members have to discuss the draft, “and we will have to wait to see if any of them introduces any contribution to the embezzlement to pave the way to the total application of the law.”
Independentism explains that Puigdemont’s return would contribute to normalize things and close a traumatic chapter. While the president of the Government maintains his silence and avoids contact with the press, Moncloa’s machinery disseminates that this alleged meeting of Sánchez with Puigdemont would also contribute to extending coexistence in a relationship that is no longer fruitful for either part.
Obviously that, among the allies, also together, the theory that the president of the Government is a toxic element is imposed. Junts is harmed in his competence with Aliança Catalan for his confrontation policy with the coalition government in policies such as the ideological battle against irregular migration.