It was Konrad Adenauer - the first chancellor of West Germany and one of the fathers of the European Union - who said that, in politics, the important thing is not being right, but that, in the end, they accept that you are. And seeing how the constitution of the Spanish Congress's Bureau went this Thursday and the consensus that has been generated around this event, the precise prominence that Carles Puigdemont will assume during this new Spanish legislature on the front pages and in political analyses, those of his defenders and those of his critics, will have a lot to do with the ideological positions of each side. But it is clear that the Catalan president-in-exile will be a key ingredient in all political sauces served up in the coming months .
What has happened so that Pedro Sánchez has been forced to concede more than any other Spanish prime ministerial candidate in what was only the constitution of the congressional Bureau, a negotiation which in none of the previous 14 Spanish legislatures since 1977 had ever seen topics of political content introduced? Essentially, resilience. Because if Sánchez is used to not giving in or only doing so at the last minute with ethereal promises that he never keeps, Puigdemont does not hop behind him in pursuit, since he neither owes him anything, trusts him or finds him especially agreeable. Standing firm was not an option for the president-in-exile, but a self-imposed necessity, once he had elegantly rejected all the pressures he had received in the last 48 hours, which were more than a few.
The agreement, which includes Junts and ERC, is positive because it is important, and many of the criticisms that can be made from the pro-independence point of view lose sight of what was being voted on - the Bureau of Congress - and confuse it with the second act, which will begin at the beginning of next week, the pact for the investiture of a government. There, the game will be different, with a political dimension that will have nothing to do with this one, starting with the amnesty that will have to be approved in the Congress of Deputies based on the processing of a draft bill. Junts's first preference is to have this presented by the PSOE, which will not be easy, but if this is not the case, the legislative initiative will come from the pro-independence party itself or from Sumar. And if it is not passed, there will be no investiture. It is that simple.
The agreement that has been reached affects the Catalan language in both Spain and the European institutions and has two other aspects - more symbolic than important, in practical terms - such as the reopening of the commission of inquiry into the state's political espionage and the creation of a new commission on the terrorist attacks of August 17th, 2017, whose sixth anniversary passed this Thursday. In her first speech after being elected, the new speaker of Congress, Balearic leader Francina Armengol, already solemnly proclaimed that, from that moment, she would allow Catalan, Basque and Galician to be spoken in the lower house, while the modification of the regulations was processed.
With respect to the official status of Catalan in the European institutions, which was the last point agreed between Puigdemont and Sánchez, Armengol's investiture could have failed if the president's demand had not been met to the letter: verifiable facts. By mid-morning on Wednesday there had been no agreement, the PSOE was saying no to everything, and the positions were very far apart. But within hours, everything suddenly came right and a different negotiation began. Towards noon, the president of the Junts parliamentary group in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, delivered to the acting Spanish minister for the presidency, Félix Bolaños, the party's demands and a precise wording of the document that the Spanish government had to send to the presidency of the Council of the European Union on the officiality of Catalan, Galician and Basque.
At approximately 5pm, the Spanish government palace forwarded the document to Nogueras and she sent it on to Waterloo. It seemed correct, there were no substantial modifications and after several analyses and giving it the right title, the final approval was given to minister Bolaños. Only the last step in the process was missing, which could not be executed until the next morning. The Moncloa palace knew that without the registry stamp confirming that the Spanish government's request had been submitted, the agreement with Junts would be valueless.
There were still a few minutes of uncertainty around 8am on Thursday, when the Junts executive was to meet electronically to decide its final position in the vote on the Congress Bureau, and from the Moncloa, the document was received bearing the stamp of having being sent by the Spanish ministry. But no, this was not at all the agreement that had been reached. What was required was the confirmation of its reception by the Council of the European Union. It had been a mistake, Junts was told, and the required document, with the stamped showing that the Council had received it, was immediately forwarded, and even accompanied by the receipt from the Council. Issue resolved. This was, then, much more than a commitment: verifiable documentation of the agreement.
Now, the focus is on September 19th, when the General Affairs Council of the European Union will vote on this request, in principle a formality, since the expenses are borne by the Kingdom of Spain, not by the European institutions.