The Government conspires to overcome the General Policy Debate despite the fracture between ERC and Junts

The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès (second from the left), during his visit to Tarragona, last Saturday, to assess the damage caused by the rains of recent days. Jordi Bedmar (EFE)

If there is not a drastic last minute turn, ERC and Junts will manage to save the General Policy Debate that begins this Tuesday in Parliament.

The Government guarantees continuity despite the turbulent relations of the coalition, but it is a mere test passed within an increasingly complicated gymkhana.

Faced with the impossibility of achieving, for the time being, the chimerical independence unit, the bet now involves looking for formulas that lengthen coexistence within the Executive.

The next boxes to put the partners to the test include the acts of celebration of the fifth anniversary of the unconstitutional referendum of 1-O;

the budget agreements on both sides of the Ebro and municipal elections that not a few put as the expiration date of the Government chaired by Pere Aragonès.

That things are on track is shown by the change in tone of the formation of the suspended president of the Catalan parliament, Laura Borràs, in recent days.

In the ranks of Junts it is insisted (and will be insisted on in the debate) that the Republicans do not comply with the main items of the national axis of the Government Agreement.

But the severity of the ultimatum has been diluted and multilateral talks continue on the body that should design the pro-independence roadmap, the coordination of action in Congress or the scope of the dialogue table between the Government and the Generalitat.

The strongest nuance came from Borràs herself, in an interview on TV3 a week ago, and that she assured that the debate was not a limit.

"It will show where the political course is heading," she added.

At ERC they believe that these points of discrepancy should be dealt with without a countdown in progress and away from the media spotlight.

The ERC spokeswoman, Marta Vilalta, thanked this Monday that ultimatums are no longer issued, but she warned, without specifying, that there will be those who want the debate to become "the scene of a division."

In the republican ranks they always saw the consultation with the bases on the continuity of the Govern coalition proposed by the successor of Carles Puigdemont and the rise in tone before the Diada as a way to cover the internal conflicts of Junts.

But no matter how much they denounce it, that does not save the Government from being affected by all of it.

Since the summer, Aragonès had announced that he would bring a "broad and inclusive" proposal to the debate to move towards independence and that it involves forcing the Government to hold an agreed referendum.

It is a proposal that seeks to go beyond independence but that, in some way, could include a nod to the more pragmatic wing of Junts to justify that it is not necessary to hold the promised consultation.

It would be one of the possible landing strips to pass the test self-imposed by Borràs, but with the relationship between partners too deteriorated to predict a full legislature.

Sources from the vice-presidency of the Generalitat, in the hands of Jordi Puigneró (Junts), accept that the number two of the Government already knows the general lines of Aragonès' speech, but they insist that it is the proposal of the head of the Executive.

It is also a content that can be answered dialectically in the debate, although, for now, in ERC they do not intend for it to become a resolution proposal to be voted on in the Autonomous Chamber.

Vilalta has also advocated this Monday that the appointment that opens the parliamentary political course in Catalonia be "an opportunity to show ourselves useful to the public."

Aragonès will take advantage of the Debate window to present measures to deal with the consequences of inflation, to which he will allocate 300 million euros.

The economic outlook for the coming months worries the Government and, beyond the fights between (and within) the parties, there is a will to advance as much as possible on the sectoral agenda.

This advance has its litmus test in the budget pact.

Saved the General Policy Debate, the race to have the Generalitat accounts ready for January 1, 2023 will be the new fight.

ERC and Junts have already collided publicly because the PSC is given play as a possible partner in that key vote (the councilor Jaume Giró defends the move, while the ERC leader, Oriol Junqueras, denies that possibility).

And with the aspiration to coordinate the vote of the Catalan independence forces in Congress in the spotlight, every step of the ERC negotiations with the Government will be scrutinized by Junts.

However, the next box in the gymkhana will be this Saturday.

The acts of commemoration of the 1-O referendum are more symbolic than anything else,

but at a time when independence sensibility is on the surface, any movement will be read in terms of confrontation.

Each party will celebrate its act and there will be a unitary one, at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona, ​​convened by the Consell de la República.

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