Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had two working meetings this week that couldn’t have been more different. On Thursday he traveled to Barcelona to negotiate far-reaching concessions to the autonomous region with Pere Aragonès, the president of Catalonia. On Friday he met Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the opposition leader of the Spanish parliament and head of the conservative PP party, to, well, at least talk.
Feijóo and Sánchez have long had a bitter animosity that has deepened since the July election. In the previous legislative period, Feijóo had already set the tone by using terms such as “Frankenstein government” and “Sanchism” – which is a piquant insult in Spain, where the last “ism” was Francoism, the Franco- Dictatorship. Sánchez also hardly missed an opportunity to keep the relationship with Feijóo below freezing point. During the vote on his government, he laughed at the failed Feijóo.
Sometimes we need each other too
In this respect, it is not surprising that both of them needed a long time to arrange for the first meeting in the new legislative period. Sánchez had announced in advance that he wanted to win over Feijóo for the long overdue reform of the Supreme Judicial Administration Council. And now there actually seems to be movement on the matter. Feijóo said he suggested using the EU Commission as a mediator for the reform, which the Socialists did not rule out.
Feijóo tried in vain to stop the Spanish state from investing in the telephone company Telefonica. He also bit the granite by demanding that concessions to separatists be reversed. It’s not just about an amnesty law for Carles Puigdemont and Co. Most recently, Sánchez’s party gave the mayoralty in Pamplona to the Basque separatist party EH Bildu.
The content was also about apparent petties such as the modernization of a term in Article 49 of the Constitution that discriminates against people with a physical disability. As with any constitutional change, this requires a parliamentary majority, which only both popular parties can muster together. But even for this self-evident modification, Feijóo demanded something fundamental from his political opponent: in return, Sánchez should guarantee that his government will not allow Catalonia to hold an independence referendum.
Sánchez’s tactics against the Catalans: merciless embrace
That is exactly the topic that was like an elephant in the room at the meeting between Sánchez and Aragonès. The Spanish leader’s current tactics on this issue are clear: embrace the Catalans until they forget their referendum. Therefore, Barcelona gets sovereignty over the regional railways (which could be a gift from Dana due to their condition), the financing of the region is reorganized and Catalan is recognized as the second official language throughout Spain.
Despite all of this, Sánchez also has another date in mind: there will be elections in Catalonia in just over a year. The local branch of Sánchez’s Socialists has a good chance of becoming the strongest force and outstripping the separatist parties. Especially when the party leader in Madrid is considered a friend of the Catalans.
Feijóo appeared before the press after the meeting. However, his performance was overshadowed by another live broadcast. Most Spaniards watched the broadcast of the drawing of the winning numbers for the Christmas lottery on Friday morning. El Gordothe main prize, went to ticket number 88008.