He says that the former Catalan president “has to accept reality”, although “it will cost him more or less time”
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has “completely” rejected that the Socialists are going to support the Junts candidate, Carles Puigdemont, to be the new Catalan president, pointing out that he does not have a majority and therefore considers that “all roads lead to (Salvador) Illa”, the PSC candidate.
Sánchez considers that Puigdemont has to “accept the reality” that indicates that there is no pro-independence majority in the Parliament of Catalonia, the first time this has happened in democracy and therefore he will have to realize that he has no options and that the only viable candidate to preside over Catalonia is Illa.
“It will cost him more or less time, but in the end the reality is the reality and that is that they do not give him the numbers to be elected president,” said the head of the Executive in an interview in La Sexta, collected by Europa Press.
Sánchez made these statements after the Catalan elections last Sunday in which the PSC was the first force with 42 seats and in which the pro-independence forces did not achieve an absolute majority in the Parliament.
Thus, he points out that Puigdemont is in a situation very similar to that experienced by the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, after the general elections of July 23, when he could not govern because he did not have a sufficient parliamentary majority.
In this sense, he says that the leader of Junts wanted to win the elections, to gain a pro-independence parliamentary majority in the Parliament of Catalonia “and he has not achieved one thing or the other,” as he has highlighted.
“Therefore, it will take him more or less time, but in the end the reality is the reality and that is that they do not give him the numbers to be elected president,” he pointed out before pointing out that “all paths, in the end, lead to the same protagonist, who is the winner of the elections and who is Salvador Illa”.
Along the same lines, he has stressed that the result in Catalonia makes several things clear, for the first time in forty years the nationalist or independence parties do not add up to a majority, the option that won the elections “has clearly opted for understanding” and there is also an option “progressive” that “adds 68 seats” in reference to the sum of PSC, ERC and Comuns-Sumar.
He also points out that the right and the extreme right continue to be “minorities” and also questions the PP and its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, if they plan to support a hypothetical investiture of Illa. Sánchez has questioned the PP’s strategy of “copying Vox’s xenophobic speech”, because those of Santiago Abascal have maintained the number of seats they had.
CATALONIA WOULD NOT ACCEPT AN ELECTORAL REPETITION
On the other hand, regarding the effects that the result in Catalonia may have for the governability of Spain, given that the Government needs the support of ERC and Junts in the Congress of Deputies to maintain its majority, Sánchez considers that they are “different plans “He advocates giving time to political forces but does not see their support at risk.
The president considers in this sense that Catalan society is saying at the polls that we must support the coalition government, given that in the general elections of 23J the two forces with the most votes were PSOE and Sumar.
In the results of 12M, Sánchez sees that Catalans want to be an “active part” of the construction of a “plural and diverse” Spain that faces current debates from a progressive vision.
In any case, he is very clear that Catalan society “would not accept a repeat election” and therefore appeals to the “responsibility” of the parties so that there is a new government led by the person who won the elections and also, as he claims, has the numbers to carry out an investiture.
However, Sánchez says that these days he has not spoken with either Puigdemont or the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, nor have they exchanged messages indirectly and points out that the parties have their internal processes and stages.
“EVIDENT” RESULTS OF PARDENTS AND AMNESTY
On the other hand, Sánchez has once again defended his policy towards Catalonia and measures such as pardons for those convicted by the procès or the Amnesty Law that will see the definitive light in the coming weeks by pointing out that the positive results they are having are “evident “.
Although Sánchez has admitted that he had “doubts” with these “risky” initiatives and sees it as legitimate that part of the citizens also have them, he believes that now there will be many more people who better understand his “commitment to harmony” and coexistence.
“There is a fact that has caught my attention. Four out of every five Catalan voters who voted on May 12 have voted for political options that have opted, in one way or another, for normalization and stability in politics. Catalan”, he pointed out, following the line set this week by the PSOE and the Government that sees in Sunday’s results an “endorsement” for the Amnesty and the pardons.
CRITICISM BY GARCÍA PAGE AND LAMBÁN
Along the same lines, in the face of internal criticism of this measure, by the president of Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano García Page and senator Javier Lambán, Sánchez insists on defending the Amnesty and rejects that it has made concessions to the independence movement.
On the contrary, he thinks that democracy has demonstrated its strength and legitimacy “with forgiveness and generosity” that have “healing effects” to resolve a political conflict “of enormous magnitude.”
