The agreement reached by Pere Aragonès and Jordi Sànchez for the former, candidate of the Republican Left (ERC), to be sworn in as president of the Generalitat and for the party of the latter, Together for Catalonia (Junts), to have half the ministries in the new government, including the vice-presidency, has all the necessary ingredients to be a good pact. It is an equitable agreement in which the two parties have aspects they can be satisfied with but also causes for concern over some enormously awkward concessions; it safeguards the 52% pro-independence vote and 74 seats won at the Catalan elections of 14th February, disconnecting the countdown to automatic repeat elections in July; it restores the lost confidence of the Catalan sovereignty movement in the pro-independence parties after a spectacle stretched across this three month period that has certainly had moments that were grotesque and worthy of being forgotten; and finally, the story has had a happy ending as any other result would have derailed the complex process of the path to a Catalan Republic.
Aragonès and Sànchez joined together in the gardens of the Palau Robert, and their declaration must of necessity be sincere, as the independence movement cannot afford a government with the bar as low as in recent years. There have been exceptions, of course. Pere Aragonès himself, Ramon Tremosa and Jordi Puigneró are three ministers who have been above average. But there are names that have not lived up to the difficult watch they have had and for which they were certainly not prepared. This will necessarily be the Achilles heel of the new government: a higher level of professionalism is required at a time when it is known in advance what the challenges are, and excuses will not do as they did in the past. Nor will they have the hundred days of grace normally granted to a new executive.
Having agreed on the 46-page document that serves as a certification of the political pact between Junts and ERC, and which includes in its first section the plan for the independence strategy to materialize the Catalan Republic, the spaces for coordination and the compatibility of strategies, the most striking aspect is the number of coordination and monitoring mechanisms. The fact that both parties have wanted to protect themselves from the disagreements that will necessarily appear is a test of maturity and shows an explicit willingness to want to revert the agony of the last legislature.
A period of just a few days now begins for the formation of the new government, which will take office immediately after the investiture vote of Aragonès and his formal swearing-in at the Palau de la Generalitat. The timetable being considered sets down for this Tuesday - and this time it will happen - the last meeting of the current Catalan cabinet. The new members would take office seven days later, on Tuesday week. In accordance with the agreed parity and taking into account that the government will have 15 members - the president and 14 ministers, seven from each party - the initial position of both Aragonès and Sànchez would be for each party to have three male and four female ministers, thus giving rise to the first Catalan government with more women than men.
At the outset, there are many probable names but few absolutely certain ones. In the case of ERC, two: Laura Vilagrà in the presidency ministry, and Roger Torrent; and, in the case of Junts, Dr Josep Maria Argimon for health. ERC will have to fit its current ministers into the organigram, if possible: Ester Capella and Alba Vergès; and from Junts, Puigneró and Tremosa. And, among the names with options, the MPs Elsa Artadi, Gemma Geis, Anna Erra, Josep Rius and Albert Batet from the party led by Puigdemont; and Lluís Juncà, Joan Ignasi Elena and Dionís Guiteras from the Junqueras-led group. So, more heads than hats to go on them, and no doubt some new names as well in the coming days.