Pedro Sánchez's statement that the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) will block the call for judges to be obliged to appear in the three commissions of inquiry created by Congress - Operation Catalonia, the 2017 terrorist attacks and Pegasus espionage - against the wishes of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts), has two elements: first, it is an attempt to settle down the government's relations with the judiciary and to emphasise the role of the new justice minister, Félix Bolaños, given the demands by Carles Puigdemont's party and the public insistence of Míriam Nogueras and Josep Rius. Secondly, to try and introduce a minimum agenda of its own that allows it to put some distance between the party and its investiture partners on those issues on which they do not have a signed agreement.
Sánchez's position, aligning himself with the People's Party (PP) and Vox in his opposition to judges having to appear in commissions, will not substantially improve the difficult relations between the PSOE and the judiciary, but it will not harm them either. It is quite a relief for the judges, who, on the other hand, did not actually plan to attend, since they understand that they are under no obligation to appear in investigative commissions of the Spanish parliament. Faced with this institutional pressure, Sánchez is doing what he does best: defending that his commitment was the creation of the investigative commissions and, because of that, the independentists had the votes of the Socialist deputies to set up all three. And, strictly speaking, that's how it is. It's another thing entirely for part of the investigation to be left lame and unable to advance to the end, but the Socialists are going to wash their hands of that.
It is obvious that the PSOE has a different perspective on the agreements signed with the pro-independence parties and it is that view which it will try to enforce. And they don't seem willing to pay for things they didn't sign - or, if they really do have to, it will be with as much delay as possible. In the photo that the Socialists are circulating, they have complied with the demands of both Junts and ERC, in addition to the parliamentary commissions, with the amnesty law proposal. A proposal, by the way, that will have corrections through amendments from the independentists and that the Socialists, reticent to this, will want to be paid for appropriately. When politics is just a transaction between interests, these things tend to happen.
It remains to be seen in the coming months how the Socialists and the independentists will contend with each other, with their respective agendas and the election that are on the way
With Junts, the issue of Catalan as an official language in the EU is also underway; there has been a meeting of the negotiation table with an international mechanism between the two organizations, which has the functions of accompanying, verifying and monitoring the entire negotiation process and the agreements reached, and at the beginning of next year, probably in January, a meeting will be held in Brussels between Pedro Sánchez and Carles Puigdemont. With ERC, there has been the announcement of the transfer of the Rodalies rail services to Catalonia; the dialogue table between the two governments will be reactivated, and there will be separate meetings with both Oriol Junqueras and Pere Aragonès. The mayoralty of Pamplona has been handed over, thanks to the PSOE, to the Basque independentists Bildu, and with the Basque Nationalists (PNV), the Socialists have committed to transferring management of the Social Security economic regime in two years. In the eyes of Pedro Sánchez, this entire package closes the investiture phase.
It remains to be seen in the coming months how the Socialists and the independentists will contend with each other, with their respective agendas and the various elections that are also coming up. Of course, there is a possible motion of no-confidence against Pedro Sánchez on the horizon, but that possibility is more arithmetic than political, since the PP, hand in hand with Vox and with continuous attacks on the Catalan language and everything that has to do with Catalan identity, does nothing but close doors. And with this situation, the Socialists will end up having a coalition for some time.