The Spanish government has announced that it will not meet with its Catalan counterpart after the cabinet meeting which the Sánchez executive is holding in Barcelona on December 21st. The initiative made by Catalan president Quim Torra can thus be tossed in the waste basket, putting in evidence what everyone suspected: the decision of the Spanish government to hold a cabinet meeting in Barcelona is mere propaganda and must be separated from any attempt by Pedro Sánchez to actually improve relations with Catalonia. In fact, the PSOE executive is sending two messages: we can come to Catalonia and have a meeting anytime we like, and we have no obligation to meet with the Catalan authorities.
Although there was controversy in the choice of date - December 21st, the anniversary of the last Catalan elections, which the independence movement entered with a handicap after Mariano Rajoy had dissolved the Catalan government and taken control of the Catalan institutions - the attitude that Sanchez is showing is also very strange. What's the point of holding a cabinet meeting in Barcelona if the agenda does not focus on the most serious problem that Spanish politics is facing, none other than the political situation in Catalonia itself, the only place in the European Union where political prisoners are being held and a majority of the population is demanding a self-determination referendum?
This weekend we learned that the Spanish government has decided to invest 5 billion euros in the suburban train network in Madrid, following an interview between the Madrid regional president and Pedro Sánchez. A massive windfall which previous experience of such promises suggests will end up actually being invested, unlike what happened in 2017 when Mariano Rajoy committed his executive to spend 4 billion euros yet only a minuscule percentage saw the light of day in work contracts. The Madrid regional president, a member of the Partido Popular, has not been asked to support the Spanish government's annual budget in return, in contrast with what Spanish works minister Ábalos suggested to the Catalan government last week, the day after a tragic death at Vacarisses in an accident on the Catalan suburban rail network.
It is always easier to make speeches than to find solutions. And, when it comes to applying that adage to Catalonia, Pedro Sánchez is a great expert.