The meeting held this Monday in Brussels between Carles Puigdemont and Yolanda Díaz signifies the de facto recognition by the Spanish government of the legitimacy of the Catalan president in exile since the end of October 2017. The fact that the number three of the Spanish executive - ranked just behind Pedro Sánchez and the first deputy PM, Nadia Calviño - travelled expressly to the EU capital, publicly announced the visit and met for more than three hours in the European Parliament with the person who, just a few weeks ago, was defined from the lectern of the Spanish cabinet as a fugitive from Spanish justice; and, finally, that the first public meeting, shortly before the sixth anniversary of Puigdemont's journey into exile, was held with a member of the Spanish government who holds the rank of second deputy prime minister represents a chain of gestures and an indisputable leap in comparison to what we have seen in recent years.
It is obvious that all the discourses and accusations have suddenly disappeared and now they are working to deny what has been said from the official organs in the past. We will see how the Spanish government justifies or how it makes compatible - and explainable to the European chancelleries - its extreme position in the European Parliament on issues such as Puigdemont's immunity as an MEP or the extradition requests raised by Llarena now that it recognizes his legitimacy and, by extension, the situation of exile. The political arithmetic in the Congress of Deputies has caused a diabolical situation ever since the election night on July 23rd, when the governability of Spain landed, essentially, in the lap of Together for Catalonia (Junts). The Basque parties PNV and Bildu and fellow Catalans in ERC also have a lot to say on the subject, but their political positions over the last four years make them easier partners or allies for Pedro Sánchez and, for this reason, all eyes are fixed on Waterloo and, by extension, on events in Belgium. The Spanish right is distraught at the dialogue between Puigdemont and the Spanish government, while trying to justify its own upcoming meeting with Junts as something normal. These are the limits of the blundering politics of the People's Party (PP).
Perhaps the negotiations for Sánchez's investiture may, in fact, have not started and we are still in the preliminary phase of talks and dialogue. Puigdemont himself has limited himself to talking about dialogue and political relations between parties of different ideologies and to stating ironically that this should be a normal democratic situation in the European Union. But everything suggests that this is the starting gun for the race to ensure Sánchez's continuity in the Moncloa. In fact, although the meeting was described as cordial by both parties, everyone knows that Yolanda Díaz is simply a facilitator of the agreement and that the actual negotiations will have to be with the PSOE and, at one point or another, with Pedro Sánchez. If not, the investiture will remain hanging, in the air, and will not materialize. It is normal for the party of the second deputy PM, Sumar, to seek a place in the negotiation and, moreover, for a person appreciated at Waterloo such as Jaume Asens - also present at the meeting, as was fellow exiled minister Toni Comín - to have his role in this very complex context.
With all eyes on Puigdemont's address this Tuesday in Brussels and his possible conditions for Sánchez's investiture, Yolanda Díaz has skillfully managed to get in on the act. In the end, what was supposed to be a party speech, since it marks the opening of the Junts inter-parliamentary meetings - Parliament, Congress, the Senate and the European Parliament - which are held every year in Brussels, due to the political situation of the exiled president, has become an event with a much shaper political edge and, unusually, in addition to other members of the Catalan president's party, delegations from the Republican Left and the radical-left CUP will attend. The presence of two Congressional ERC deputies is particularly important and comes about after the moment on August 21st in Prada de Conflent, as part of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of musician Pau Casals, that the current Catalan president Pere Aragonès proposed a joint strategy in Madrid to Carles Puigdemont and the latter dismissed it at the moment citing that the two parties have different strategies.
Today, Tuesday, in the EU capital, I fear that the exiled president, rather than setting his conditions for the investiture, will want to establish the methodology. An evolution of the situation that was already experienced on August 17th when, in order to approve the designation of the socialist Francina Armengol as speaker of Congress, he demanded that Catalan be an official language in the European institutions and that the Catalan foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, request this in writing from the Council of the European Union. And so, in addition to requiring that the PSOE exhibit a genuine willingness to reach agreement - we will see if it exists or if they prefer to go to new elections on January 14th - the investiture must have a methodology that includes the verification of all that is agreed,