Carles Puigdemont, author of the biggest recent blow to the constitutional order, a fugitive from justice and the main delegitimizer of Spanish democracy abroad, is squeezing to the limit the enormous power to condition public life that the President of the Government has granted him. The exhibition of his refusal to close the agreement that will guarantee the seven votes necessary for Pedro Sánchez to be invested is the living demonstration of the weakness of the acting president and his future government, which will permanently depend on radical and essentially corrupt minorities such as Junts.
After the open defence of the amnesty out of "necessity" that Sánchez exposed in the Federal Committee of the PSOE, the humiliating photograph of Santos Cerdán with Puigdemont and the PSOE-ERC pact, the president is tied to the designs of the fugitive. At the same time, he needs to sell to his electorate that he has achieved a greater booty than the millionaire economic concessions and the unacceptable political concessions achieved by Oriol Junqueras.
Junts is now calling on the PSOE to ensure that the text of the amnesty law affirms that the state concocted judicial set-ups to neutralise secessionism after the 2017 referendum was held. In this way, the government would grant amnesty to at least a hundred people involved in collateral cases for crimes of simple corruption. That list would include everyone from Laura Borràs to Miquel Buch, but also those identified in Operation Volhov, which, in addition to alleged corruption, has confirmed the existence of fluid contacts between Josep Lluís Alay, chief of staff of the then president, and envoys from the Kremlin. The links between Puigdemont's circle and well-known figures in Putin's Russia, including his military intelligence service (GRU), in the months leading up to October 1 are proven. In fact, a day before declaring independence, Puigdemont himself met at his official residence with an alleged Kremlin emissary who allegedly offered him money and 10,000 soldiers. Is the government willing to grant amnesty to a still secret case that has revealed links with Russia in the midst of the war in Ukraine?
They are what they call the "pending fringes" of an agreement that will mean impunity not only for the main pro-independence leaders, but even for violent groups such as Tsunami Democràtic, the platform that organised the attempt to take El Prat airport by force and which, according to the Civil Guard, was coordinated by ERC leader Marta Rovira; or the CDR card that handled explosives, sent to trial yesterday for alleged terrorism.
The pacts that Sánchez carves out to stay in power are a frontal attack on equality, law and coexistence. The PSOE speaks of "concord", but it only feeds division, both in Spain as a whole and in Catalonia itself.