For the second time in very few days, Spanish minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, has once again raised the possibility that the Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, turns himself in to the Spanish justice, to the Spanish Supreme Court, in order to find what he defines as "easy solutions". This time he did not do so through a radio interview but from the room that reports the agreements of the Council of Ministers. The first time he said this, Puigdemont's response from Brussels was categorical already, as he accused him of being one of those responsible for fracturing the lives of many Catalans. The exiled Catalan president, who on some occasions has held the minister responsible for many of the events occurred in October 2017, has always explained that a pardon is not on the list of solutions and that his departure to Brussels already contemplated the possibility of a long exile, something that will only be solvable through an amnesty or by winning all the European lawsuits that still remain for him in Strasbourg and Luxembourg, which would grant him total immunity, at least, on paper.
If this is the situation, and the Catalan president has reiterated since the beginning that he would not come to Spain in exchange for a pardon, what exactly does Iceta want? Especially after the Spanish minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, disavowed him last Friday. It is possible that he has jumped on the bandwagon of those who are pushing for the modification of the crimes of sedition and rebellion in the Criminal Code to adapt Spanish legislation to that of other countries, where these crimes do not exist. This path is basically defended by Unidas Podemos and especially by Jaume Asens, and it does not seem to have an easy path neither in the ruling coalition in Spain nor among the Catalan pro-independence forces, with Junts being especially reluctant. Moreover, in the current political scenario, where the electoral bleeding of the PSOE is becoming more evident every day, and we have not yet entered the dreaded crisis of the return from vacations, I very much doubt the socialists would allow Pedro Sanchez to launch himself into such a dangerous electoral adventure.
Minister Bolaños is bluffing when he transfers the responsibility for this issue to the Catalan independence supporters, because he knows the colossal problem it would cause in his own ranks. It is true, however, that convincing ERC and Junts to modify the crimes of rebellion and sedition is not easy, since it does not come close to solving the exile problem, the real existing political problem. It would also be opposed by the exiles themselves. Therefore, does an issue destined to failure merit such a great effort? Certainly not, the Spanish government is simply beating around the bush, something that, on the other hand, should not surprise us so much. In any case, all this is before the Friday meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Pere Aragonès, in Madrid. They are trying to bring ERC closer to where the Spanish government needs them: ready to approve the next Spanish State budget. ERC's secretary-general, Marta Rovira, has just declared that her party no longer trusts the PSOE and that there will be no thaw in relations without results.
It may also be that Miquel Iceta is looking for a political exit that will lengthen his career, given the more than likely possibility that the PSOE will lose the government by the end of 2023, at the latest. What better, then, than prepare an exit towards the Barcelona City Council and present himself as a politician who even talks about finding solutions if Puigdemont appears before the Spanish Supreme Court? True, a few days ago he said that this is impossible for him to contemplate, as he is very comfortable in his position as minister. But this statement has relative value, as we could perfectly see when he ceded his candidacy to the Catalan Parliament to Salvador Illa.