ERC say conservative PP made contact over potential investiture of Feijóo

The general secretary of Esquerra Republicana (ERC), Marta Rovira, has revealed that the conservative People's Party (PP) contacted the pro-independence party in the summer to negotiate possible support for PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo as Prime Minister.

However, the right-wing Spanish party denied that it made contact or negotiated with ERC to try to garner their support for Feijóo,

In an interview with SER Catalunya, Rovira explained that they were contacted by the PP's Carlos Floriano who aimed to form a majority in the Spanish Congress. "We told them that thank you, but that we don't talk to the PP," Rovira explained, who added that they have "nothing in common" with Feijóo's party.

She also pointed out that the alternative to the Socialists would have been a PP government also involving far-right Vox and, therefore, "it didn't make any sense."

Rovira also explained that it is "impossible" for the PP to resolve the political conflict in Catalonia because "they are the ones who aggravated it."

People's Party sources say that Floriano only "commented" to an ERC MP "in an informal way" that "they should let the parties who won most votes rule. Nothing more." 

The PP add that Floriano had not received any order to "propose anything" to ERC, nor did he speak "with the fugitive Marta Rovira," who has been residing in Switzerland since the wake of the peak of the independence crisis in 2017.

For Rovira, the PP is "a huge contradiction with what Catalonia means," and the ERC official highlighted that the Spanish right-wing party "is always late and is a slow political force." 

PP about-turn on amnesty

The revelation comes just days after it was revealed that the leadership of the People's Party would be open to a conditional amnesty for the leaders of the independence push, including former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. 

The PP's shift contradicts its fierce opposition to the amnesty law, which it has tried to actively block in the Senate and harshly criticized during debates in Congress.

PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo had always opposed a pardon for Puigdemont, but party sources believe that a pardon could be approved as long as Puigdemont and the others accused face the Spanish courts and express regret for the events of 2017, with an explicit commitment not to repeat them.

The party has also admitted to holding talks with Junts after the July 23 elections, in which the PP won the most seats but fell short of a majority. They said they studied an amnesty for Puigdemont "for 24 hours," but the legal team rejected it as unconstitutional and the talks ended.

The day after the revelations, the PP leader clarified his position, saying that he had always opposed the amnesty bill and that he would continue to advocate a "total investigation" of the independence movement.  

"I have said and will say no to any amnesty, because none of the possible conditions are met," he told media during the PP campaign in Galicia for the upcoming regional elections next Sunday, in which the PP could lose its absolute majority, according to polls.

Catalan government: 'Delirious and mutant words'

The Catalan government views Feijóo's stance about a possible pardon for Carles Puigdemont as "changeable, delirious, and mutant."

Spokesperson for the executive, Patrícia Plaja, regretted that "Catalanophobia" is the driving force behind this controversy on Tuesday.

"If we lived in a normal political context, [Feijóo] would have to apologize to Catalans for so much repression and for all the speeches," Platja said, adding that the PP leader is "not believable."

Plaja lamented the use of Catalonia in the Galician elections because "it gives them votes," rather than "making constructive policies."