BarcelonaThe last time Pedro Sánchez set foot in the Palau de la Generalitat to meet with Pere Aragonès, both were still wearing masks. It was September 15, 2021 and it was a meeting prior to the second meeting of the dialogue table between the Generalitat and Moncloa in which Junts no longer participated. Then it had been a few months since the pardons had been granted to the pro-independence leaders and the pandemic had left stand-by the dialogue between the Generalitat and Moncloa. Two years later, the Spanish president returns to Barcelona to meet with Aragonès in a very different context: aside from pardons, the Spanish government has repealed the crime of sedition, the amnesty law has begun its process in Congress and Together has also been added to the negotiating strategy – without coordination with ERC -. Once Pedro Sánchez has revalidated the presidency of the Spanish government thanks to the independence votes, this Thursday’s meeting – scheduled for 12 noon – is supposed to stage the beginning of this second phase of the dialogue with the State.
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The two teams frame it within the institutional framework of a meeting between presidents, but from the Generalitat they emphasize that it is a “working” meeting in which progress must be made on the investiture agreements. In this sense, they remember that Aragonès wants to put his priorities on the table: materialize investments such as the transfer of Rodalies, the reform of regional financing, Catalan and the resolution of the political conflict. The Government points out that, precisely, this Wednesday, one of the pending issues was resolved: the 1.6 billion euro appropriation for the Mossos d’Esquadra until 2030. In Moncloa, on the other hand, they are limited to presenting the meeting as another example of his “commitment to dialogue” where the Spanish executive intends to address “issues of common interest” and continue “working to reach agreements that improve the lives” of citizens.
Between the September 2021 meeting and this Thursday, Sánchez and Aragonès also met in Madrid a year ago, a few days before the dialogue table met for the third time, this time in the Spanish capital. Since then, the two presidents have maintained distance contact – in addition to coinciding at events such as the Mobile World Congress – and, for example, a call during the night of La Castanyada served to unblock the agreement for the investiture of Sanchez An agreement that must now be developed through the various bilateral commissions between the State and the Generalitat, to specify issues such as the transfer of Rodalies; and also with a new negotiation table, where the republicans want to put on the table the calling of a referendum, which the Spanish government rejects.
Sánchez’s other meetings with independence
It is the same request that Junts will also demand in its negotiation space with the PSOE. In fact, the juntaires already held a first meeting with the socialists in Geneva. The meeting was headed by Carles Puigdemont and Santos Cerdán, and the name of the international mediator who will be in the talks, Francisco Galindo Vélez, emerged. The councilors have made use of their seven deputies in Madrid by returning to the dialogue with the State. A dialogue that ex-president Quim Torra already started in the meeting he had with Pedro Sánchez at the Palau de Pedralbes in December 2018. A year later, and after editing the first coalition government of the State, Torra and Sánchez also chaired the first meeting of the dialogue table – in February 2020 – that the Republicans agreed with the Spanish government. Be that as it may, the meeting with Aragonès is not the only one that Sánchez wants to maintain with independence. This Tuesday he explained that he also wanted to meet with Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras once the amnesty law is approved.
2023-12-21 06:30:12
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