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The most paradoxical and worrying thing about the press conference held by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez after his long meeting with Catalan president Pere Aragonès is that he was not able to put forward a single political proposal to unblock the conflict between Spain and Catalonia. Not a single one. Only clichés, such as his agenda for the re-encounter, a horizon with three priorities (overcoming the pandemic, economic recovery and European funds), the reiteration of the need to listen to each other and a hackneyed phrase taken from Salvador Espriu's poem, La pell de brau.

This timid attitude from Sánchez scarcely matched the enormous efforts made by Aragonès to give content and political depth to the visit of a Spanish prime minister to the Generalitat and, above all, to provide the greatest possible impetus to the Table of Dialogue, Negotiation and Agreement that met at the end of this meeting, consisting of ministers of both governments (the Catalan ones, only from ERC).

The opening of dialogue between the two governments had a difficult birth due to the crisis between the two Catalan parties, ERC and Junts, the previous day. Pedro Sánchez also took advantage of this and did not miss the opportunity to irritate old wounds such as the expansion of El Prat airport. He must be the first Spanish PM who, rather than promising a "rain of millions" for Catalonia as others have done, digs his heels in and explains why he personally forced the withdrawal of the 1.7 billion investment in El Prat: "There is no mature position on the part of the Catalan government." That is, the project is nothing but a take it or leave it offer. Which, when he says as much from the Generalitat palace, is symptomatic. And so is his explanation of the expectations for the table and the time to be allowed for results: "No hurry, no hold-ups and no deadlines."

The explanations given by prime minister Sánchez and president Aragonès put on display something that was very obvious: the distance between the two positions. The PM, valiantly resisting any departure from the conception of a Spain of autonomous regions, with a certain Rajoy-like air in pointing out that decisions over Catalonia are the business of all Spaniards; and, the president, with commendable persistence in insisting on referendum, amnesty, and self-determination. The distance would not be worrying at the beginning of talks if it were not for the Spanish position on these issues being in no way negotiable, but rather, intransigent. The fact that there is no established methodology nor timetable also explains the Spanish government's reluctance to leave the pre-established framework of the agenda of re-encounter.

Having surpassed this barrier of the first meeting, as explained by the two delegations - Yolanda Díaz, Miquel Iceta, Félix Bolanos and Isabel Rodríguez on behalf of the Spanish government and Laura Vilagrà and Roger Torrent, on behalf of the Catalan side - in separate press releases that expressed their differences, it will now be important to hear what methodology and timetable are set. At the previous table with president Torra, a monthly calendar was established which was never followed, since the initial meeting at the Moncloa in Madrid was not followed by any other. Now, this is not the plan, but the idea that you can simply keep kicking the ball around till Christmas seems sluggish given the magnitude of the problem.