Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Tuesday a set of measures to combat the difficulties that the Spanish state is going through as a result of the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which have strengthened the coalition government with Unidas Podemos. References to Catalonia, however, did not appear until the end of the parliament, which lasted about an hour and a half, and Sánchez tiptoed around the issue: he simply reinforced his commitment to dialogue and reunion, just three days before his meeting with Catalan president Pere Aragonès to resume negotiations.
The prime minister, during the State of the Nation Address that begun this Tuesday, July 12th, and will end on Thursday, July 14th, promised he will approach the reunion with the Catalan pro-independence parties with "tenacity and dialogue", with the aim of "reducing the emotional gap that divides those Catalans who want to separate from Spain from the rest of Spanish brothers". Sánchez, assured that there is no "nobler task" in politics than working "for coexistence".
Sánchez intervened this Tuesday at noon and in the afternoon it will be the turn of the opposition groups, starting with the Popular Party (PP). In his speech he announced measures such as a free Rodalies, the regional rail system in Catalonia, or taxes on electricity and banks. The Catalan Government made its usual press conference after their Executive Council, where its spokeswoman, Patrícia Plaja, valued positively that Sánchez has raised measures "to help citizens" but asked to know the fine print.
On the dialogue, Plaja said that the expectations they have of Friday's meeting "are not high" because at this point trust in relations is very "diminished", but assured that the two presidents will address the relations between the two governments, the guarantees demanded by the Catalan government and also the dejudicialization of the politics of the independence process in the meeting. He also acknowledged that the Pegasus espionage issue is not included in any of agenda's items, but noted that it will "definitely" be one of the issues addressed. In addition, despite the meeting being scheduled in three days time, the Catalan government's spokesperson wanted to make it clear that relations are not normalized.
Reactions of the pro-independence parties
ERC, Junts and CUP will intervene in response to the Spanish president during this Tuesday's afternoon and Wednesday's morning, according to the planned development of the debate. Before the interventions in the plenum of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, however, they have already shared some first reactions to the press, but have not addressed dialogue. The leader of ERC, Gabriel Rufián, celebrated that the subscription to Rodalies will be free, but demanded investments in trains. Junts' spokesperson Miriam Nogueras considered that the measures are "Penny wise, pound foolish", while Mireia Vehí (CUP) waited to read the "fine print" of the new taxes and demanded price control.