Spanish elections and politics II: Catalan elections on February 14, 2021

[BigSerg]

Are you trying to compare the situation created by the Evola virus with the ongoing crisis? Good luck with that. Also, Pedro Sánchez said "the government is responsible". He did not accused the Rajoy administration of killing Spanish citizens. This is a very serious accusation that can't be done lightly. If Casado and Abascal were decent persons moved by the national interest. not by ideological hatred or the desire to topple the government, they should apologize and resign their seats immediately

In short,

Ebola was Rajoy's fault.
(0 deaths)

The coronavirus is the fault of... let's not politice such a serious issue!
(40000 deaths)

[BigSerg]

Are you trying to compare the situation created by the Evola virus with the ongoing crisis? Good luck with that. Also, Pedro Sánchez said "the government is responsible". He did not accused the Rajoy administration of killing Spanish citizens. This is a very serious accusation that can't be done lightly. If Casado and Abascal were honest persons moved by the national interest. not by ideological hatred or the desire to topple the government, they should apologize and resign their seats immediately

Please, don't spam the thread posting loads of tweets. I have nothing against freedom of speech, but I prefer if you limit your re-tweets to the strictly necessary

They are necessary since they highlight your hypocrisy.

[Velasco]

If you want to highlight my hypocrisy, please resort to arguments. I don't pay attention to many tweets because they mean nothing to me. It's better that you elaborate your thoughts, in order to support your views. Right now you are spamming and I don't want to report your excessive re-tweets. Use your own words, links or whatever

[Former President tack50]

As always, worth noting Ebola is an extremely hard to transmit virus, while Covid is extremely contagious. You can only get infected with Ebola through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. Ebola is also a much deadlier disease as well. Iirc the death rate for Ebola was around 50%, compared to around 2% for covid.

Had Rajoy not brought to Spain that nurse who got infected (I think), there would have been 0 cases whatsoever (though she probably would have died, I don't think Sierra Leone's or Liberia's healthcare systems are all that great)

On hindsight, Rajoy took a gamble that paid off, but Spain could have also ended with a small outbreak and an amount of cases in the low double digits, with around 7-8 deaths or so.

[Velasco]

The government welcomes the replacement of Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, hoping that the PP is more open to reach deals. However, government sources quoted by El País believe that the appointment of a new spokesperson reflects internal power struggles within the PP and not a strategic turn. Socialists consider the controversial Álvarez de Toledo is a gift for them while in campaign, but there are no elections in the horizon. Now the priority is to reach deals with the PP, in order to renew constitutional bodies like the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ in Spanish, its members should have been replaced nearly two years ago), the Board of the RTVE (thepublic broadcaster) and the Ombudsman. According to Álvarez de Toledo, Casado told to her that she could be an obstacle to solve these issues. More importantly, it's necessary discuss the allocation of the European Reconstruction Fund, which is key for economic recovery (and very important for the regions governed by PP and Cs). Government sources deem impossible that the PP is open to facilitate the first reading of the budget, but hope that a less hostile attitude allows more room for manoeuvre to negotiate with Cs

[BigSerg]

Coronavirus


https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1296106055609602048?s=19

[BigSerg]

"Spain has re-emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and its government appears largely in denial over it.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is on vacation with his family and hasn’t come out to address the public after Spain, over the course of this week, recorded the highest number of daily infections per million people in Europe. Each day brings more bad news"

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-08-19/spain-s-coronavirus-infections-rise-by-the-most-in-four-months?__twitter_impression=true

[Velasco]

Likely the choice made by former king Juan Carlos to take temporary residence in the Emirates is not the best, in order to help his son and current king Felipe. The stay of Juan Carlos in the UAE reminds us his past activities as lobbyist for the Arab despots

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/opinion/king-juan-carlos-exile.html

(...)An outdated culture of allegiance, the opacity surrounding the Spanish monarchy and a Constitution that exempts our kings from any criminal responsibility sent the monarch the message that he was above the law. His immunity from prosecution, designed to give stability to the institution of the crown, was used to amass a fortune primarily through millions of dollars in presumed kickbacks from Arab dictators. He acquired such wealth that in 2012, in the middle of the Great Recession that left 25 percent of Spaniards unemployed, he transferred 65 million euros to his lover Corinna Larsen, a German businesswoman (...)  

Making things worse, Corina Larsen emerges again with very embarrassing statements in an extensive BBC interview

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53749630

"He called me up and said the king had come see him and told him he was very much in love with me, and intended to marry me," she says. "He also told my father he couldn't do it straight away, it might take some time. He wanted my father to know he was very serious about me."

(...)

"Obviously, it's a very emotional moment when something like that happens," she says. "And I was very much in love with him, but I foresaw - I'm a political strategist - that this would be very difficult. And I thought it might destabilise the monarchy.

(...)

Later in 2012, she claims she was visited in London by the head of Spanish intelligence, Félix Sanz Roldán.

"He said he was sent by the king," she says. "The primary warning was not to talk to the media.

"He said if I didn't follow these instructions, he would not guarantee my physical safety or the physical safety of my children."

(...)

he is one of the individuals being investigated by the Swiss prosecutor. And that is because in 2012, after the Botswana debacle, the then-King Juan Carlos transferred what was left of that $100 million from Saudi Arabia - around €65m - to her.

"I was very surprised because it's obviously an enormously generous gift," she says. "I will say, though, that conversations about him managing his will during his lifetime had taken place in 2011. He started to talk about his death and what he wanted to leave in his will (...)

"I don't know if this money is illegal," she says. But if the ongoing investigations establish an illegal origin for this money, "they should return it".

And zu Sayn-Wittgenstein's response?

"I will leave this up to the Swiss prosecutor," she says. "Putting me under pressure on that is not the right way to go forward.

"Because I think in that case, everybody needs to return everything. What I find extraordinary is they're rolling 40 years of the modus operandi of a family enterprise into a focus on one person. And that's me… Because there will be hundreds of other accounts in other jurisdictions."
  

In other news, the Spanish government ups security over concerns for safety of ministers. Podemos politicians Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero have been subjected to four months of harassment outside their home in Madrid, and this week were forced to cut short their vacation

https://english.elpais.com/politics/2020-08-20/spanish-government-ups-security-measures-over-concerns-for-safety-of-ministers.html

he government is taking the ongoing harassment that is being suffered by Unidas Podemos politicians Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero very seriously, considering it not to be an isolated incident but rather the result of a political climate that is being fanned by the far right. The executive is opting to increase the security measures outside the Madrid home of the deputy prime minister and his partner, who is the equality minister in the coalition government, and is preparing for a potential worsening of the situation this coming fall.

Coronavirus outbreaks: Health minister reported 131 dead last week

https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-08-20/coronavirus-deaths-reported-by-spains-health-ministry-beginning-to-rise.html

The rise in coronavirus infections that Spain has been seeing in recent weeks has prompted a spike in the number of Covid-19-related deaths due to the serious pneumonia that the pathogen causes. According to the data released on Wednesday by the Health Ministry, 131 people with the coronavirus have died in the last seven days, a figure that is twice that released by the ministry on Tuesday, and 11 times greater than the 12 deaths that were reported in the third week of July, just a month ago.

The deaths being caused by the virus are, however, even greater in number, but the delays in the notification of the data that the regions send to the ministry and that are subsequently made public mean that changes in trend are trickling through slowly (...)

Pere Godoy, the president of the Spanish Epidemiological Society (SEE), believes that this increase in mortality is “the expected result in the rise of the circulation of the virus registered in recent weeks, with a number of outbreaks and community transmission present in a number of areas.” Despite this, “these sudden increases in mortality can also be due to delays in notification,” the expert explains.

“But there is no doubt that if the incidence increases, mortality will end up rising too,” Godoy adds, saying that “it is to be expected that this rise is not as steep as that registered in the spring, given that many of the people being diagnosed now are young, healthy and even asymptomatic.”

Madrid is still at the top of the list of new positives, with 2,207 in total and 1,535 in the last 24 hours

[Velasco]

Catalan elections: Cs replaces Lorena Roldán by Carlos Carrizosa as the candidate for the upcoming elections in Catalonia (without specific date as yet)

Carrizosa is currently the Cs spokesman in the Parliament of Catalonia, while Lorena Roldán is the Cs spokeswoman in the Spanish Senate. The reason alleged by Cs is the need for a candidate holding public offices only in Catalonia, as well someone "less identified with the Cs acronym" (astoundingly, Carrizosa is regarded less partisan than Roldán), in order to form a 'constitutionalist' alliance with PP and the PSC. Such alliance is very unlikely, as it's totally rejected by the Catalan socialists and the PP is not very interested (except maybe for joint lists in Girona and Lleida, where the PP has very few chances of winning seats in its own).

 Lorena Roldán was appointed candidate in July 2019, when Inés Arrimadas decided to jump into national politics to second former Cs leader Albert Rivera. I don't now the actual reaasons for this replacement atm

[Skye]

Catalan elections: Cs replaces Lorena Roldán by Carlos Carrizosa as the candidate for the upcoming elections in Catalonia (without specific date as yet)

Carrizosa is currently the Cs spokesman in the Parliament of Catalonia, while Lorena Roldán is the Cs spokeswoman in the Spanish Senate. The reason alleged by Cs is the need for a candidate holding public offices only in Catalonia, as well someone "less identified with the Cs acronym" (astoundingly, Carrizosa is regarded less partisan than Roldán), in order to form a 'constitutionalist' alliance with PP and the PSC. Such alliance is very unlikely, as it's totally rejected by the Catalan socialists and the PP is not very interested (except maybe for joint lists in Girona and Lleida, where the PP has very few chances of winning seats in its own).

 Lorena Roldán was appointed candidate in July 2019, when Inés Arrimadas decided to jump into national politics to second former Cs leader Albert Rivera. I don't now the actual reaasons for this replacement atm

I don't know what they are thinking with that alliance. Why should the PSC agree to it? It's not gonna happen.

[Former President tack50]

Catalan elections: Cs replaces Lorena Roldán by Carlos Carrizosa as the candidate for the upcoming elections in Catalonia (without specific date as yet)

Carrizosa is currently the Cs spokesman in the Parliament of Catalonia, while Lorena Roldán is the Cs spokeswoman in the Spanish Senate. The reason alleged by Cs is the need for a candidate holding public offices only in Catalonia, as well someone "less identified with the Cs acronym" (astoundingly, Carrizosa is regarded less partisan than Roldán), in order to form a 'constitutionalist' alliance with PP and the PSC. Such alliance is very unlikely, as it's totally rejected by the Catalan socialists and the PP is not very interested (except maybe for joint lists in Girona and Lleida, where the PP has very few chances of winning seats in its own).

 Lorena Roldán was appointed candidate in July 2019, when Inés Arrimadas decided to jump into national politics to second former Cs leader Albert Rivera. I don't now the actual reaasons for this replacement atm

I don't know what they are thinking with that alliance. Why should the PSC agree to it? It's not gonna happen.

Yeah an alliance has a 0% chance of happening. I do think a limited PP+Cs (and only PP+Cs) alliance might work if limited to Girona and Lleida, maybe that means they keep 1 seat in each of the 2.

[Velasco]

The "constitutionalist front" with Cs, PSC and PP makes no sense in Catalonia. Leaving aside other ideological differences, their attitude towards Catalan nationalism and/or identity (the expression catalanisme may refer to both) has never been the same. PP and Cs are parties that oppose Catalan nationalism, especially the party once led by Albert Rivera (the PP attempted a soft catalanista approach for a short period, when Josep Piqué was the regional leader). The PSC has always been federalist and catalanista since the late 1970s , when the PSOE branch merged with some other small socialist parties operating in Catalonia by that time. The PSC always had a catalanista or soft nationalist wing. Actually Cs was founded in Catalonia by a group of intellectuals that in many cases were close to the socialists, but grew disappointed by the excessive (in their view) nationalist leanings of the PSC under Pasqual Maragall

The sovereigntist process, or the conflict on Catalan independence, distressed the PSC and many of the most catalanista members fled to ERC and even JxCAT. Currently the PSC advocates a federal state and seeks to build bridges with moderate nationalists contrary to secession. The PSC has integrated in party lists members of Units per Avançar (the heir of Unió), despite that group is ideologically christian-democrat (centre-right)

On pure electoral calculus, a constitutionalist front would be unprofitable. I can imagine leftwing PSC voters switching to CatComu-Podem, as it happened with ERC voters that switched to the CUP when the Oriol Junqueras party joined JxSI with CDC. The fiasco of the PP+Cs coalition in the Basque Country is another solid reason to oppose and the PP leader in Catalonia asked the national leadership to dismiss the idea (except maybe for Girona and Lleida)

[BigSerg]

The Popular Party has on Thursday denounced a meeting on the beach between the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, and the former Andalusian President Manuel Chaves, sentenced to nine years for the case of the ERE and pending appeal in the Supreme.

https://twitter.com/rafafeldespato/status/1296491853664202754?s=19

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.vozpopuli.com/espana/ministro-justicia-chaves-ere_0_1384362403.html

But King Juan Carlos....

[Niemeyerite]

The Popular Party has on Thursday denounced a meeting on the beach between the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, and the former Andalusian President Manuel Chaves, sentenced to nine years for the case of the ERE and pending appeal in the Supreme.

https://twitter.com/rafafeldespato/status/1296491853664202754?s=19

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.vozpopuli.com/espana/ministro-justicia-chaves-ere_0_1384362403.html

But King Juan Carlos....

Yeah, King Juan Carlos has been hiding (and stealing) hundreds of millions of € but of course a "beach chat" that may even be the result of a pure coincidence is much, much worse. Also, they weren't wearing masks!!1!1!1!1!!!

[BigSerg]

The Popular Party has on Thursday denounced a meeting on the beach between the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, and the former Andalusian President Manuel Chaves, sentenced to nine years for the case of the ERE and pending appeal in the Supreme.

https://twitter.com/rafafeldespato/status/1296491853664202754?s=19

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.vozpopuli.com/espana/ministro-justicia-chaves-ere_0_1384362403.html

But King Juan Carlos....

Yeah, King Juan Carlos has been hiding (and stealing) hundreds of millions of € but of course a "beach chat" that may even be the result of a pure coincidence is much, much worse. Also, they weren't wearing masks!!1!1!1!1!!!

The king is not under investigation, he has not fled.

On the other hand, there's a convicted felon in the photo.

[Velasco]

Yeah, King Juan Carlos has been hiding (and stealing) hundreds of millions of € but of course a "beach chat" that may even be the result of a pure coincidence is much, much worse. Also, they weren't wearing masks!!1!1!1!1!!!

They don't wear masks because they are followers of Miguel Bosé and his conspiracy theories.

More seriously, I ignore the circumstances. Maybe it was a casual encounter, aa you say. Would you refuse to say hello or to have a chat with an old acquaintance, in case you are minister and he is convicted on corruption? Is that chat so relevant? I don't have an answer  Not wearing mask seems to be a more serious issue in these times.

Apparently the affairs of Juan Carlos are not very important. I think Corinna Larsen talked extensively with a BBC journalist because she will have to appear in court pretty soon.

The Spanish monarchy is certainly not in good shape, but it will be definitely done the day it's perceived as a partisan institution. So if I was the king, I would be worried at the attempts of the Spanish right to appropiate that institution. Right now Sánchez is backing the king Felipe, either for the sake of stability or for personal conviction. It'd be in the interest of Felipe that our rightwing MPs did not use the "viva el rey" against the government. That's not good for him.

Welcome back, Julio

[Velasco]

Catalan elections: Cs replaces Lorena Roldán by Carlos Carrizosa as the candidate for the upcoming elections in Catalonia (without specific date as yet)

Carrizosa is currently the Cs spokesman in the Parliament of Catalonia, while Lorena Roldán is the Cs spokeswoman in the Spanish Senate. The reason alleged by Cs is the need for a candidate holding public offices only in Catalonia, as well someone "less identified with the Cs acronym" (astoundingly, Carrizosa is regarded less partisan than Roldán), in order to form a 'constitutionalist' alliance with PP and the PSC. Such alliance is very unlikely, as it's totally rejected by the Catalan socialists and the PP is not very interested (except maybe for joint lists in Girona and Lleida, where the PP has very few chances of winning seats in its own).

 Lorena Roldán was appointed candidate in July 2019, when Inés Arrimadas decided to jump into national politics to second former Cs leader Albert Rivera. I don't now the actual reaasons for this replacement atm

Apparently the change of candidate is an attempt to prevent a debacle and is not the product of infighting. Lorena Roldán was elected candidate a year ago, proposed by Albert Rivera and ratified in a primary election with 86.6% of the vote. She is a member for Tarragona in he Parliament of Catalonia since 2015 and member of the Spanish Senate since May 2018 (designated by the Catalan parliament), where she was promoted to the position of spokeswoman. In sum, she was regarded a rising star and was chosen to replace the charismatic Ines Arrimadas because she had a similar profile on paper. However, Roldán has been unable to position herself in the turbulent and complicated political scene of Catalonia. She has been gradually replaced in the role of leader of the opposition by the veteran Carlos Carrizosa, who is one of the Cs founders as well a hardliner and a razor-tongued spokesman. Carrizosa attended a recent interview with the director of the public channel TV3 and was the Cs spokesperson who confronted premier Quim Torra in a recent parliamentary debate to reprove the king (a sort of propagandístic declaration without legal implications, because it's not constitutional) triggered by the recent scandals affecting the monarchy.  The decision was made by Inés Arrimadas and her little executive committee, with the knowledge of Roldan and Carrizosa. All the polls released until now point to a Cs decline that it's worrying, but it could be even worse if polls are failing to measure the magnitude of the fall (as it happened in the last general elections that led ti the demise of Albert Rivera)

[Niemeyerite]

Gracias Dani.

And I won't even answer to the guy saying that the King isn't being investigated so we shouldn't be concerned about the hundreds of millions he got but never declared... representing our country. It's sooo normal and nice to have your own Head of State literally hiding money from the Treasury.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Gracias Dani.

And I won't even answer to the guy saying that the King isn't being investigated so we shouldn't be concerned about the hundreds of millions he got but never declared... representing our country. It's sooo normal and nice to have your own Head of State literally hiding money from the Treasury.

While certainly not nice, it is unfortunately quite normal.

[Velasco]

It's sooo normal and nice to have your own Head of State literally hiding money from the Treasury.

Right now I'm reading in the news that Pablo Casado orderred to cease negotiations to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) because of the "ambiguous attitude" of Pedro Sánchez towards the emeritus king, as well because UP advocates a republican state and apparently being republican is an outrage. Keep in kind that Sánchez has stated the form of the state is not under discussion and is backing the current king, although he also stated the news on the Juan Carlos' affairs were "disturbing". Well, I think "disturbing" is the least that can be said. None of the parties right of the centre have said a word about the irregular activities of former king Juan Carlos. They remain very attached to the old culture of allegiance that allowed Juan Carlos' impunity (and the PSOE is not much better in this regard).

https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20200822/482928962009/pablo-casado-pp-cgpj-rey.html

 Said this, in my opinion the debate monarchy vs republic is not the most important question. There are many corrupt and authoritarian republics all around the world. The main issue to discuss should be the transparency and accountability of the institutions; stop overprotecting Felipe and demand the royal hosehold open doors and windows. On the other hand, I find some 'republicans' a bit hypocritical. Some Catalan separatists are taking advantage to say Spain is corrupt and unreformable (Oriol Junqueras, for instance), while forgetting the "father" of the Catalan nationalism Jordi Pujol and his family are corrupt too. I have republican leanings, but no sympathy for hypocrites

[BigSerg]

The Attorney's Office of the Court of Auditors sees evidence of crime in Podemos electoral accounts

The company Neurona, precisely, was mentioned by the lawyer of Podemos José Manuel Calvente, dismissed last December by the party of Pablo Iglesias, in his statement before the judge investigating his allegation of alleged irregularities in purple formation.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.rtve.es/noticias/20200821/fiscalia-tribunal-cuentas-indicios-delito/2040663.shtml

[Velasco]

Political discussion in Spain has been focused on the reopening of schools, amidst a surge in coronvirus that points to a second wave. Central and regional governments agreed measures to reopen the schools closed since the first upsurge in March, including:

- Mandatory face masks for school staff and students aged six and over, measure extensive to school transport

- Physical distancing between students set at 1.5 meters

- Students and teachers will have their temperature taken before school day starts

-  Students will wash their hands "frequently and vigorously" at least 5 times a day

  Cleaning of school buildings will be stepped up, particularly bathrooms and areas frequently used

- Creation of "bubble groups" to limit the contact between classes

- Health and Education ministries call to avoid activities involving different groups of students

- The use of open-air spaces for activities will be prioritized

- Reduction of the physical presence on site of school staff to the "essential minimum", prioritizing remote work wherever possible

  Authorities recommend communication with students by phone, email, messages or posts, facilitating administrative tasks by remote means

- Any staff particularly vulnerable will have to "rigorously respect" protection measures

- Schools will be open for the whole, term, as will as canteens and services for students with special needs,  "provided that the epidemiological situation allows for it"

(...)

These measures are "the lowest common denominator" agreed between central and peripheral administrations and were signed by all regions except  the Basque Country. The Basque government is not opposed to them, but it's very protective of regional autonomy and devolved competences thus opting to introduce its own measures separately.  

In-person classes are deemed not only preferable to remote teaching, but necessary for the economically disadvantaged students with less access to the internet and technological devices. In other words, it's a matter concerning equality of opportunities. Even though there's little discussion about that, central and peripheral governments of different political colours are facing heavy criticism. For instance, there is a devastating opinion article by David Jiménez in the NYT, accusing all administrations of neglect and improvisation in a depth charge against the political class. The opinion article is only available in the Spanish edition atm, but I guess there will be an English translation too (I linked an insightful article on Juan Carlos by the same author before)

https://www.nytimes.com/es/2020/08/27/espanol/opinion/vuelta-cole-espana.html


During the state of alarm, the central government took control, centralizing decisions and coordinating the efforts of the regional administrations. The Health minister Salvador Illa became the highest authority. But given the high degree of decentralization of the healthcare system, the minister acted like an overall coordinator in permanent contact with his regional counterparts. When the state of alarm came to an end, the central government devolved deescalation measures to the regional administrations with mixed results. Recently Pedro Sánchez offered support to the regions that require to implement the state of alarm, in case of aggravation. However, regional premiers are very reluctant to accept that offer, opting for less strict measures. The state of alarm implies the government takes full control and a strong erosion

The news concerning the new upsurge are somewhat alarming

https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-08-28/the-reopening-of-schools-in-spain-here-are-the-measures-agreed-by-the-government-and-the-regions.html

The Spanish Health Ministry reported on Thursday that 9,658 new coronavirus cases had been detected by the regions. This is the largest spike in infections that Spain has seen since it entered a second wave of the virus, and confirms the upward trend of Covid-19 transmission, which has been rising since the beginning of August.

The news came on the same day that Spain’s 17 regions and the Health and Education ministries met to establish protocols for how to safely reopen schools in September. According to Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts, students will be able to return to class even if there is “community transmission” of the virus in Spain.

After sternly warning last week that citizens should “have no doubts” that “things are not going well,” Simón offered a more temperate message at Thursday’s press conference. He highlighted that although some regions are seeing a noticeable rise in cases (for instance those along the Mediterranean coast) or are continuing to report very high infection numbers (mainly in Madrid), in other regions, such as Aragón, Catalonia, Basque Country and Navarre, the “trend is stabilizing or even falling.” (...)
  

[Velasco]

The negotiations on the 2021 budget are creating tension between PSOE and Podemos, even though government sources quoted by El País rule out the coalition is going to break. The reason is the apparently definitive veto of Podemos to negotiate the Cs support. Despite Pedro Sánchez has made explicit calls for unity, in order to pass some sort of 'patriotic' budget to overcome the crisis, PP leader Pablo Casado has rejected the proposal. Cs is open to engage in negotiations, but the orange party is asking Sánchez that the budget is as far from the Podemos ideas as possible. It's the classical hostility between the two parties, that continues after the departure of Albert Rivera. Cs representatives often make disdainful remarks about the "populists", while Podemos spokespersons openly state they prefer a negotiation with ERC. The problem is that the ERC support is very hard to achieve before elections take place in Catalonia. There is not a date fixed for the elections and everything depends on political calculations (on the part pf premier Quim Torra and the 'exiled' Carles Puigdemont, both from JxCAT) and the evolution of the pandemic this autumn. In the midst of this uncertain scenario of pre-electoral tension, JxCAT and ERC are engaging in a war of words (premier Torra called for a "smart confrontation" with the Spanish state, while some ERC spokesperson replied they prefer a "smart negotiation"). In this context the ERC support might be impossible, in case the Catalan party is demanding too much. On the other hand, the round table on the Catalan conflict agreed between the pSOE and ERC is paralyzed due to the pre-electoral climate. Given these complex circumstances, the PSOE is approaching Cs to the displeasure of ERC and Podemos. The purples are asking Sánchez to lo take care of the parties that voted his investiture. But socialists fear the Podemos stance contrary to deals with Cs gives ERC veto power on the budget negotiations

[Velasco]

Pedro Sánchez made a call for unity and a "new political climate" before an audience of big corporation leaders

https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-08-31/spains-business-elite-turns-out-to-hear-pms-call-for-a-new-political-climate.html

panish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez held an unusual public event on Monday: instead of organizing a political rally attended by grassroots supporters, he marked the end of parliament’s summer recess with a speech given in the presence of the country’s top business leaders. His message was one of unity amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, and it was aimed squarely at the main opposition Popular Party (PP).

The mere presence of the business leaders was, in itself, a political statement. Major figures such as Ana Patricia Botín from the Santander banking group, José María Álvarez Pallete from telecommunications giant Telefónica, Carlos Torres from lender BBVA, Florentino Pérez from construction group ACS, and Pablo Isla from fashion giant Inditex – which owns the popular brand Zara – were all in attendance to hear Sánchez call for unity and a “new political climate.”

Despite the internal tensions in the governing coalition over the budget negotiations and the aperture to Cs, Sánchez guaranteed the business leaders stability for the next 40 months.

“The government is choosing unity, not division, nor conflict, nor confrontation,” the prime minister said during his speech. “Spain must come to an understanding with Spain, just like Europe came to an understanding with Europe in July,” he said, in reference to the agreement hammered out by European Union countries over the bloc’s financial response to the coronavirus crisis. “This is the biggest challenge in a century,” he continued. “We can’t overcome it with half of Spain turning its back on the other half, or, what’s even worse, pitted against the other half. There is no such thing as a right-wing virus or a left-wing virus.”

I'm not a big fan of his rhetoric style, but for sure we need unity before adversity. However, this generation of Spanish politicians appears to be "the least prepared and most intolerant" of the present democratic period (the words between quotation marks belong to David Jiménez)

The new slogan aired by Sánchez is España Puede ("Spain Can"). I'm full of hope and goodwill.

Catalan affairs: Carles Puigdemont and a bunch of public officials (members of regional government, deputies, senators, mayors...) have broken officially their ties with the PDeCAT. The party launched by former premier Artur Mas* to replace the old CDC will presumably suffer a member drain. The Puuigdemont supporters and the PDeCAT leadership are now engaged in a judicial battle over the ownership of the JxCAT trademark. The split is inevitable and they will run separately in the upcoming elections: Puigdemont and his people in the new big tent cross-ideological project under the JxCAT banner (unless judges rule otherwise) on the one hand, and the PDeCAT in its own or allied to other splinters of the old Convergència (for instance, the new Catalan Nationalist Party led by Marta Pascal) on the other hand.

_{*Artur Mas stays in the PDeCAT atm.}

[BigSerg]

https://twitter.com/electo_mania/status/1300314135935229954?s=19

https://twitter.com/PedroOtamendi/status/1300838725258227717?s=19