Pedro Sánchez has put all his eggs in one basket: a one-party government and, may be, one with a nuance that does not mean anything, such as defining it as a government of cooperation. Pablo Iglesias, in turn, also adopted an all or nothing position: he says that he only accepts a coalition government. With these far apart positions Sánchez and Iglesias are meeting meet today to negotiate Sánchez's investiture as PM in two weeks. The interim prime minister is seeking to knock out his adversary, see his humiliation and ensure that his 42 seats serve the sole purpose to subscribe a document to govern Spain and to remove Iglesias' party, Podemos, from the Cabinet.
This is, for both, not the best time in their relationship, which has never been especially good. The pre-investiture negotiations have been marked by positions of intransigence and inflexibility, something that PSOE, with more political experience, is usually better at. Pedro Sánchez has gone for a slow cooking investiture, since nearly 3 months have elapsed between the 28th April Spanish elections and the first session convened by the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet. In that time, the idea of the coalition government has been losing points, the leaders of PSOE who used to bless it have taken a step back, the business elites have even said that they'd rather have new elections than having Pablo Iglesias become a minister, and Podemos has been degrading as a strong political option losing much of its council power. The PSOE knows that its entry into the government has three fundamental problems: it gives them political oxygen when they are at their lowest, it complicates their negotiations in Europe, where they do not want to have anything to do with such a left-wing government, and it is a dead end for any attempt of a legislature of variable geometry in the Spanish Parliament.
All that is good for the PSOE is the only game Iglesias can play at. Iglesias, in addition, has cleared the path of barriers and obstacles to make Sánchez's circulation viable. Thus, he has made a public promise of loyalty to the PSOE in State matters and he has placed his proposal of defense of a referendum of independence in Catalonia at the very bottom of his drawer. Everything, to allow that Podemos seats in government for the first time in the recent Spanish democracy. For all these reasons, Pedro Sánchez's investiture may end up not being as simple as the numbers are saying since both have made a matter of principle of the issue, and one or the other will have to give in.
The other day, a German journalist was surprised that what has been happening in her own country for several decades would be so difficult in Spain, which has not yet had any coalition government . The truth is that the political paths in Madrid are best understood this way: negotiating, talking and speaking are all vetoed words. Winning is the only option. The only language that is understood.