Friday, February 9.
The campaign for the hard-fought Galician elections of 18-F is approaching its halfway point.
A group of 16 journalists from media outlets with different editorial lines, including EL PAÍS, attend an informal meeting with a PP source at the highest level.
The invitation was sent days before by the party.
A common practice between parties and journalists:
off-the-record
conversations in which the political leader provides context and keys so that they can elaborate their information with greater knowledge, with the authorization to publish it on condition of not identifying the source.
What was agreed in advance between the PP and the invited journalists was that what this senior leader said there could be published, attributing it to “PP sources”, late on Saturday.
The
off the record
has caused a political fire in which the party that summoned the journalists now accuses them of “manipulation.”
The “informal meeting with the press” had been called on Monday the 5th, and the journalists were those who usually follow the national information of the PP.
16 editors from EL PAÍS, Cadena SER,
El Periódico de España, Abc,
La Vanguardia,
Eldiario.es
, Público,
RNE, TVE, Antena3, Efe,
ElConfidencial.com
, El Independiente,
La Sexta,
20 Minutos and OKdiario attended.
The meeting lasted almost two hours, in which the journalists freely asked different questions, from the PP's expectations for the Galician elections to the negotiation with the PSOE for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary and the farmers' mobilizations.
Catalonia dominated most of the time.
The day before, Thursday, Carles Puigdemont had veiledly threatened the PP with pulling the rug out from under his private conversations last August to establish the Congress Board.
“Everything will be known,” said the former Catalan president, on the run in Brussels since 2017, in an open letter. And that was the
opportunity
for journalists to ask the PP source about the Catalan crisis.
A journalist asked: “What would have to be done to achieve a
reset
[reboot]
politician in Catalonia?”
The PP source responded with a reflection in which she was very critical of the amnesty that the PSOE is trying to carry out, calling it “illegal” and questioning whether the socialists blur their red lines.
It was then that he explained that the PP “analyzed 24 hours” the possibility of an amnesty, when he learned that this was Junts' demand in the contacts between both parties last August, and ruled it out as unconstitutional.
“They analyzed it for 24 hours?” the journalists asked.
“Yes, ours,” the source replied in reference to their teams.
“But it was ruled out as unconstitutional,” he added.
That leaves at least two conclusions.
One: unlike what the PP leadership has explained in the last hours to put out the fire, in the contacts with Junts they talked about the amnesty.
And two: unlike what Feijóo has expressed in recent months, the PP examined, albeit for a few hours, the possibility of an amnesty for the leaders of Junts and ERC, despite the fact that it later went so far as to propose the illegalization of those games.
The source added that one possibility for this restart would have been “pardons in exchange for reconciliation”, but not linked to Feijóo's investiture, and as long as those affected – including Puigdemont – requested them and committed to “submit to justice.” Spanish, verbalize their regret and explicitly commit to comply with the rule of law.”
Another journalist asked: “If the amnesty is illegal, then what would be the legal alternative?”
“A pardon,” the source insisted, “is a possibility.”
“If it is legal and there is an explicit commitment to return to the rule of law, it could have been seen.
If they are interested in truly reconciling, if they want, we will talk,” he added.
The journalists then wanted to know how far the PP had gone with “that possibility” of a pardon in its contacts with Junts.
Did they offer it to Puigdemont in the conversations with Junts?
“No, man, no,” the source responded, also remembering that not even Junts has ever raised it, because it has always demanded an amnesty.
In the conversation, the source also acknowledged that he saw “difficulties” for the judges to prove that Puigdemont committed a crime of terrorism, despite the fact that the PP's public discourse in recent weeks has been to link the riots after the the sentencing of the
process in 2019,
following in the wake of Judge García-Castellón.
Once that informal meeting with the press was over, EL PAÍS asked Núñez Feijóo's cabinet for clarification before publishing the news, which came to light late on Saturday with this headline: “Feijóo, open to studying a conditional pardon for Puigdemont in a “reconciliation” plan for Catalonia.”
In writing, the cabinet wanted to add the following: "With regard to pardons, as we always defended, any reconciliation proposal involves the recognition of the law and the Spanish Constitution and submission to the courts of Justice."
“Cases pending in court must be concluded with sentences.
Also that of the people who fled our country to avoid their responsibilities,” he added in reference to Puigdemont.
That is, the written notes did not deny that the conditional pardon was a possibility of closing the Catalan crisis, as the source had conveyed in the
off-the-record conversation.
Feijóo's public speech
On Saturday morning, 24 hours after that informal meeting with the press and before the media published the information at night, Feijóo surprisingly launched the speech of “reconciliation” in Catalonia at a rally in Sarria (Lugo).
“Of course we are in favor of reconciliation and we will do everything possible so that those who broke coexistence are reconciled with the rule of law and with the coexistence of the country.
Reconciliation is necessary, but it can never happen through impunity,” he emphasized at a rally.
The PP leader added: “It took us less than 24 hours to say no and reject the amnesty, and the PSOE has been trying to hammer the amnesty into the Constitution for five months.”
On Saturday at eleven thirty at night, the media whose journalists had attended that informal meeting published news with very similar approaches, all focused on the idea that Feijóo was open to studying a pardon for Puigdemont with certain conditions.
“Feijóo, open to studying a conditional pardon for Puigdemont in a “reconciliation” plan for Catalonia,” EL PAÍS published.
“Feijóo is now open to pardoning Puigdemont “with conditions” within a “reconciliation plan for Catalonia,” Cadena SER reported.
“Feijóo proposes a pardon for Puigdemont conditional on him being tried and rejecting the unilateral route,” said
ElConfidencial.com;
“Feijóo is willing to accept a conditional pardon for Puigdemont”,
La Vanguardia;
“Feijóo would pardon Puigdemont 'with conditions' and never in exchange for an investiture”,
OkDiario;
“Feijóo would pardon Puigdemont if he is tried and accepts the Constitution and the law”,
El Independiente.
The political uproar immediately began and that same night the party distributed a brief statement in which it tried to put out the fire by saying that “the PP would never pardon a person accused of any crime who did not show total remorse for his actions or show a intention to amend.” ”.
But in Genoa they realized that the situation was so serious that it had to be Feijóo who redirected it.
On Sunday morning, the party modified the leader's agenda to appear and explain himself.
From Ferrol, Feijóo stated: “I said and say no to any type of pardon because not a single one of the conditions for any possible pardon is met, because no condition is given for that possibility.”
With those words he recognized, therefore, that he conditions the measure of grace, but that he is not fundamentally opposed to it.
Since then, different PP leaders have accused the media that published the information of spreading “manipulation”, “hoaxes” and “
fake news
”, accusations especially directed against EL PAÍS.
“The PSOE launches a hoax against Feijóo and the PP through the newspaper controlled by Sánchez,” PP deputy Edurne Uriarte wrote on the social network X.
“Manipulation, lies and
fake news
, capable of anything in the face of the electoral disaster that the polls in Galicia predict,” she added, specifically criticizing EL PAÍS.
The PP of Andalusia tweeted a news item from
El Debate
(a media outlet that was not present at the informal press meeting) that said: “The PP denies EL PAÍS and assures that it would never give amnesty or pardon to Puigdemont.”
This Monday, the parliamentary spokesman of the PP, Miguel Tellado, has tried to deny the major attack by attacking the journalists again: "I believe that they are expressions taken out of context and that the PSOE has also launched a campaign orchestrated by certain media to say what is not and to show some contact between the PP and the Catalan independence movement when there is none, there has not been any.
Late this Monday afternoon, Feijóo used a rally in the Galician campaign to defend himself.
The leader of the PP asked the party to support him internally, and sent a harsh message against the amnesty and pardons: “I am not Pedro Sánchez.
I do not accept the amnesty, nor will I accept it.
I do not accept pardons, nor will I accept them.
Mr. Sánchez has been trying to sneak an illegal amnesty for five months, with a hammer.”
EL PAÍS has decided to maintain respect for the conditions of
off the record
and not reveal the identity of the source despite the attacks on the credibility of the newspaper and despite the fact that other media outlets have violated this confidentiality agreement.
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