Acting deputy PM and Puigdemont agree to explore 'all democratic solutions' in post-election talks

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and Spain's acting deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz of the left-wing Sumar coalition, have agreed to explore "all democratic solutions to the political conflict" between Catalonia and Spain in post-election talks ahead of a Pedro Sánchez prime ministerial bid. 

Puigdemont, an MEP for hardline pro-independence Junts per Catalonia who has lived in Belgium for almost 6 years to evade prosecution for the 2017 independence referendum deemed illegal by Spain, and Díaz met on Monday at the European Parliament in Brussels.

The acting deputy prime minister was there on behalf of her party, Sumar, and not the Spanish coalition cabinet, as government sources clarified. Toni Comín, an MEP for Junts who has also lived in Belgium since late 2017 to avoid facing charges in Spain, and Jaume Asens, a Catalan member of Sumar, were also in attendance. 

Both parties issued a statement following the meeting in which they stated that Monday's discussions had allowed them to establish a "normalized and stable relationship."

"We share the deep conviction that politics must be done from dialogue and democratic principles," the statement reads, describing democracy as "dialogue between different positions."

"The meeting we had this afternoon with @Yolanda_Diaz_, @Jaumeasens and @toni_comin is part of democratic normality in the European Union," Puigdemont later wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Dialogue and maintaining political relations between parties of different ideologies should not be a surprise, nor an exception."

"We will continue talking, we will continue looking for solutions through dialogue and democracy," Díaz wrote. 

Pro-independence Junts, kingmakers in Spain

Although Sánchez's Socialists were the second most-voted party in the July 23 general election, they currently have a greater chance of forming a government than Alberto Núñez Feijóo's conservative People's Party.

Feijóo faces an investiture vote in Congress in late September - and an uphill battle if he wishes to secure the backing of the requisite 176 MPs to become prime minister. 

Sánchez, on the other hand, is closer to achieving this goal with the help of Sumar, but he will also have to convince Basque and Catalan parties to vote for him. Tacit support in the form of an abstention will not be enough for his victory, a situation that makes Junts kingmakers in Spain.

While Junts - and Esquerra Republicana, the less confrontational pro-independence party that has made deals with the left-wing Spanish government throughout the last term - did vote for the Socialists' congressional speaker candidate in exchange for allowing Catalan to be spoken in the chamber and a Spanish government request to make it official in the EU, the parties have also long campaigned for an internationally recognized independence referendum and an amnesty for those who are still facing the legal consequence of the 2017 vote. 

The Socialists, however, have maintained on multiple occasions that negotiations with the pro-independence camp will take place "within the constitutional framework," making an independence vote in the near future unlikely. 

If neither Feijóo nor Sánchez are able to garner enough support to become prime minister, another general election will be called automatically two months after the first failed investiture vote.