The news reports tell us that Spanish nationalism succeeded in attracting around a thousand people to the streets this October 12th in Barcelona, to celebrate what they consider their national holiday, the lowest number since records have been kept of mobilizations that day. The fact that this rally - which had the support of the People's Party (PP), Vox and Ciudadanos (Cs) - took place four days after last Sunday's rally to protest the amnesty and that, with the entire organization of the three parties of the right and extreme right at its service, managed to gather around 50,000 people who had come from different cities in Spain, allows us to draw a number of conclusions.
The first and most significant: out of the 50,000 people who protested last Sunday, around a thousand must have been from Barcelona, those being the ones who turned out again this Thursday. The rest, fellow travellers from around the Spanish state who responded to the clarion calls of Núñez Feijóo, Díaz Ayuso and Abascal. Second: Barcelona is not Madrid. There, Spanish nationalism turns out to protest against Pedro Sánchez, something which is already a classic every year and which, in this 2023 parade, was not missing either. In their Barcelona marches, enemy number one is Carles Puigdemont and the most chanted cry is "Puigdemont, to prison".
The third, that the atmosphere on the street is much calmer than the right-wing press wants us to believe. The noise is being made by politicians, judges, journalists and prosecutors. Not by those on the street. Fourth, Pedro Sánchez is already speaking openly about the amnesty and he even commented this Thursday during the reception at the Royal Palace in Madrid that the Socialists (PSOE) already had their amnesty proposal. In just a few weeks, he has made a significant journey: from the "it can't be done" before 23rd July, to then creating a climate receptive to the initiative, and now, as if it has fallen from the sky, he has his proposal. In his own parish they are already prepared for these statements and the hands of the clock are beginning to speed up.
The last reflection has to do with the calendar. Now that the date of October 12th, marked in red on the PSOE calendar, has passed, and since there are no complicated dates on the horizon, a timetable can begin to be established both for the investiture and for the different issues that are to be negotiated. This Friday, the acting prime minister will receive the president of the parliamentary group of Together for Catalonia (Junts) in the Congress of Deputies, Míriam Nogueras. It will be the second meeting with a Catalan pro-independence party, since on Wednesday he did the same with Gabriel Rufián, from the Republican Left (ERC).
On that occasion, Rufián made it clear that he ruled out a legislative pact, that "ERC's votes meant hard work" and that they were only considering supporting the investiture, since they thought of "going step by step". Junts, on the other hand, is working with the Socialists on a four-year overall deal in line with Carles Puigdemont's proposal on September 5th in Brussels, in which he spoke of a historic agreement. We will wait and see what comes out of the meeting between Sánchez and Nogueras and the clues that Junts offers on the climate of the conversations.