Pedro Sánchez has a peculiar way of asking other political parties for help: proposing that they give him everything in exchange for almost nothing. Using the catch cries of unity or responsibility as bait, he stretches out parliamentary alliances, now with some, and now with others. He won the investiture vote with the left - both the Spanish left and that of the state's periphery - and the Basque nationalists, but except for the last-named, who always have the ability to fish up something, the others have been left stranded, with the exception of Podemos, which has several cabinet seats, although its policies are conspicuous by their absence in the Spanish executive.
It is well known that difficult times are on the way for the Spanish economy and that Sánchez has instructed his people to try and settle the budget with Ciudadanos (Cs), the party now led by Inés Arrimadas which seeks to rescue the government accounts from the clutches of the Popular Party (PP). Sánchez's Socialists (PSOE) give careful attention to Arrimadas and company, although it is also true that there are so few of them in Cs that they can be rewarded with almost nothing. But prime minister Sánchez also wants the PP's Pablo Casado to take part in this kind of "national salvation" which he presented on Monday at Madrid's Casa America with the leaders of the Spanish establishment and the country's large corporations. And that’s why he’s started calling for help.
This type of tactic from Sánchez is not new. In fact, he previously tried to persuade the right to hand him an investiture as prime minister for free, in order, he said, to avoid depending on the pro-independence parties, and did not succeed. He later dredged up the historical Moncloa Pacts from the start of Spain's democratic transition: he wanted to make a second version of the Moncloa Pacts, he said. No-one would have a bar of it. Now he's onto the third volume of the same encyclopedia.
The grand coalition, in any form that it might be possible, is what is hovering over all that Pedro Sánchez offers, while Podemos makes attempts to express its displeasure without being noticed too much. Sometimes the party tries to apply some pressure but that ends up making it too obvious that they are bluffing. In the face of the black clouds that are approaching for the Spanish economy and, probably, the gentle reminders that must be arriving from Brussels, Sánchez has taken those who hold the reins of the economy as witnesses to send a message to the PP and, in passing, to tell those present that either Casado doesn't want pull his weight or the PP is just not capable of it. It doesn't matter how it's said because the message is very clear.
In Catalonia we know a lot about messages from Pedro Sánchez. He sends them off very often and always with an appearance of making a deal that you can’t miss. Until, as in the worst deceptions, you see that there is nothing behind it; just words.