It is, in part, normal that Spain's two major political parties, the PSOE and the PP, have entered into paralysis and confusion since the July 23rd general election and the subsequent definitive count of the results, including votes from abroad, carried out by the Central Electoral Commission. The 172 votes in favour of the different parties of the right - when the single Canarian Coalition MP is included - and the total of 171 for the various left-wing parties, plus the Basque Nationalists, have left one single actor standing on the Spanish political chessboard who is key to forming a hypothetical majority, and that is none other than Carles Puigdemont. There are obviously other actors, but none with the central role of the Catalan president-in-exile.
In the midst of this confusion, the parts of the coalition that has governed Spain till now are putting small objects on the table as if it were an auction. The deputies of Sumar are very active, and this Wednesday, through their leader, Yolanda Díaz, they offered the introduction of Catalan as an option for speakers in the Congress of Deputies, in exchange for a pact for the chamber's procedural body, the Bureau. Forty-six years of hearing over and over again that the use of Catalan was impossible - and the last speaker, Meritxell Batet, cutting off speeches that were not in Spanish - and now it turns out that it was all a big lie. That it depended on the votes that each political group had and, above all, that the composition of the Bureau depended on Puigdemont. Well I never! They are having to eat so much humble pie, you wonder how it will fit on the plate.
If the proposals continue emerging at the current rate - on Monday, the bait offered was a reform of the autonomous financing system, necessary, but small change in the current situation - until August 17th when Congress is constituted, surely there will be further developments. In any case, the role played by the opening act is politically interesting, on both sides, in a spectacle that is always essential to hold the attention and, above all, the tension in the negotiation. Meanwhile, Pedro Sánchez, on holiday in Morocco, a destination that is, to say the least, surprising and provocative after the controversial actions carried out with the handover of what was once Spanish Sahara to king Mohamed VI which aroused so much criticism, and as well, the espionage via Pegasus of one of the Spanish PM's phones, which the North African country supposedly controlled from behind the scenes.
And while all this is happening on the left, someone tells me that from the headquarters of the People's Party on Calle Génova in Madrid, instructions have been sent to the Catalan leaders of the party to remain silent and stop coming up with original ideas about what to do or not to do with regard to Junts. Of course Feijóo's team has picked up the phone to find out if they have any options or are out of the game due to being excluded! They have not had a refusal. But it is something else altogether if the price they are asked to pay is, should it come to it, beyond them. And that they would prefer to go to a new election: either them, or the PSOE, or both together.