Far from suffocating, the political fire caused by the espionage scandal against Catalan pro-independence leaders is spreading and getting worse at times.
ERC, dissatisfied with the explanations it has received so far in public and especially in private from the Government, is already openly threatening to break the majority of the investiture.
The 13 ERC seats are key to most of the laws.
The Republicans have already sent a clear message to the Executive, in public and above all in private: if they want to regain confidence, they need someone to take responsibility: that is, to turn some political head.
ERC sources point out that Pere Aragonès,
the president,
who is also among those being spied on, is not demanding that Pedro Sánchez drop a specific position —a minister or the head of the CNI—, but he has clearly told him that this matter will not be resolved with good words alone and someone has what to fall
Aragonès spent the whole day in Madrid yesterday to grant several interviews, meet with the political groups that demand an investigative commission on this scandal —including United We Can, a member of the government coalition— and convey a clear message: “This is not solves with a meeting [between him and Sánchez].
Someone must take responsibility, and it is the Government that must decide the level.
Confidence right now is zero.
Based on the decisions that the Government makes or does not make, we will decide what will happen to the rest of the legislature, ”he said in an appearance at the gates of Congress.
Aragonès admitted in an interview on Cadena SER that he and Sánchez have exchanged messages in which the president has conveyed his support,
From the Executive they insist that contact with the Generalitat is permanent, not only between presidents but between the teams —especially Óscar López, Sánchez's chief of staff, and Sergi Sabriá, who leads the Aragonès team— to find a solution.
The will of the Executive, government sources add, is to take all the necessary steps to regain confidence.
Including the possibility that the leaders meet and the dialogue table be reactivated as soon as possible.
But the problem with espionage is that the Government does not admit at any time that it has occurred and, therefore, much less can it offer the head of someone responsible.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles, to whom the CNI reports, argues that she cannot comment on its activities, which opens the way to all speculation.
But it does ensure that everything this center does is “with all the guarantees established by law”: that is, that if there were interventions, it would be with judicial authorization, as established by law.
Meanwhile, from United We Can, Pablo Echenique asks that "heads roll" if something has been done without instructions from the Executive or that "apologize" if an espionage authorized by a judge has been carried out.
The situation is diabolical, because the government insists that it has nothing to hide and has no responsibility for espionage, but at the same time it cannot give any explanation or confirm or deny anything about the activities of the CNI because it ensures that the law prevents.
The issue will continue to grow, and not only because of the ERC, but also because several groups, including another key ally, the PNV, will continue to press.
In fact, his spokesperson, Aitor Esteban, will ask Robles about this matter on Wednesday.
PP support
The PSOE is being quite alone in this matter, although in all probability it will be able to count on the support of the PP to reject an investigation commission on CNI activities.
Aragonés met yesterday in Congress with the main government and parliamentary partners of the Executive and negotiated with them a "common front" strategy to force a reaction from the socialist sector of the Executive.
Neither the PDeCAT, nor Junts, nor even the CUP, related their enormous discomfort and rejection of espionage with the unchecking in upcoming votes of the highest relevance, such as the one that must validate next Thursday the Executive decree with the measures to combat the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
That negotiation is taking place in parallel, and for now it is detached from
the Pegasus case.
The PSOE does not currently support the creation of an investigation commission.
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, trusted yesterday that the Control Commission of the credits destined for reserved expenses be constituted so that it can be spoken "without any reservation".
Robles has asked to appear before the Defense Commission to talk about EU policy, but there she cannot give explanations on this matter, although she is asked by the parliamentary groups.
Some groups plan to take advantage this coming Monday of the already scheduled appearance of the president's chief of staff, Óscar López, in another congressional commission to ask him about this case.
Several nationalist parties argue that it is not credible that Spain bought the Pegasus program and that it could have been used, even by the CNI and with legal authorization from a judge of the Supreme Court, and that the head of the Executive did not know anything or have had access to those reports.
Meanwhile, within the independence movement, which seemed to unite momentarily over this case, the division intensifies.
Even within Junts per Catalunya.
The PSC and the Carles Puigdemont group share the Government of the Barcelona Provincial Council, a key entity in the distribution of subsidies to the municipalities and positions for the parties.
Laura Borràs, the president of the Parlament, of Junts, insisted yesterday that it is not possible to agree and govern “with the parties that use the sewers of the State”.
The idea of breaking that pact was also expressed by two other independents of that party: the Catalan deputy Jaume Alonso Cuevillas and the representative in the European Parliament Toni Comín, reports
Camilo S. Baquero.
But the most neoconvergent soul of the party does not see that rupture so clearly.
It would leave Junts out of the Executive of the Diputación and at the same time it would force to rethink a multitude of municipal agreements and in county councils, in which they have preferred to agree with the PSC to marginalize ERC.
Vice
President
Jordi Puigneró, also from Junts, opted to "differentiate" municipal agreements from national politics.
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