The PSOE is so eager to water down the Spanish government's negotiating table with Catalonia that prime minister Pedro Sánchez continues to play cat and mouse on whether or not he will attend the meeting, as if it were something very difficult to announce. His government is playing tricks, sending contradictory messages which sometimes give the impression that the president is a little closer to going and other times a little further away, and in this one has to recognize, with all of the media chorus that they have behind them, they are true artists. No-one is talking about the agenda of the meeting and that situates the debate at a really surprising point, that of asking: "Can such disdain even be contemplated without the pro-independence forces considering whether their presence at the meeting makes any sense?"
The Catalan government has reinforced its efforts to demand the attendance of Pedro Sánchez, with no response so far, and that the summit should be held, in accordance with the commitment announced, no later than Friday 17th September, which is the last working day of the third week of the month, the agreed period. Along with the uncertainty over Sánchez, which will be difficult to clarify before the Diada, the doubts over the composition of the Catalan delegation also apparently continue, with ERC asserting they must be members of the government but with Junts holding a position which, in theory, is more flexible.
The fact that Pedro Sánchez continues calmly pulling petals off the daisy has left the Catalan side's decisions at an impasse, with Carles Puigdemont's party refusing to commit until the Spanish PM makes a decision. If the meeting being held by the Junts parliamentary group in Brussels this week helps in any way, it will serve to reiterate the pessimistic view of the dialogue table and highlight the Socialists' lack of interest in negotiating on the Catalan conflict.
For the celebration of Catalan National Day, with all the planned institutional events as well as the annual rally, to overlap with the debate on the dialogue table is a situation as unusual as it is strange. In other years, the Diada has served to set the direction for the political year, while the most that this one can aspire to is to respond with the greatest dignity possible to the demobilization that independence is suffering from and the lack of unity between the parties. Sánchez knows this and is playing on it, with his promises of money and his agenda of re-encounter. The Catalan government has announced that it will be at the demonstration, which is only four days away and we know very little about that. The independence movement, used to being measured by its strength on the street, is playing its match this 2021 without the sparkle of other years and with the pandemic as an added obstacle.