Last-minute Junts-Socialist deal paves way for left-wing speaker in Madrid

A last-minute deal between hardline pro-independence Junts per Catalunya and the left-wing unionist Socialists could secure prime minister Pedro Sánchez's party's position in the congressional bureau in Madrid. 

Made public a mere hour before Spain's new Congress is set to convene and elect a new speaker this Thursday, the agreement will see Junts' mathematically crucial 7 MPs vote for the Socialists' Francina Armengol in exchange for key concessions.

The agreement includes allowing lawmakers to use Catalan in congressional debates as well as further investigation into deep state 'sewers' and the August 2017 terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils. 

The pro-independence party held a meeting Thursday morning before the congressional session to decide who its 7 MPs would back as without them, both the Socialist candidate for congress speaker, Armengol, and the conservative People's Party's candidate, Cuca Gamarra, would be tied at 171 votes. 

Since the July 23 general election resulted in a hung parliament, making Junts kingmaker, the pro-independence party has been secretive about talks, especially since tacit support for the Socialists with an abstention will not be enough for their success. 

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, in Belgium since 2017 to evade prosecution for the independence push, broke the silence on Wednesday to call for "hard facts before committing" to backing them in the congressional bureau and, down the line, in a minority government. 

The Socialists, in turn, had stepped up efforts to sway the pro-independence camp. Not only with their choice of Armengol as congressional speaker candidate - the former Socialist Balearic Island president had opposed imposing direct rule from Madrid after the independence referendum - but with Sánchez's pledge to "deploy" the use of Catalan in European institutions during Spain's EU Council presidency, which ends in December. 

Esquerra-Socialist deal

Esquerra Republicana (ERC), the left-wing pro-independence party known for its more conciliatory approach to politics, has also reached an agreement with the Socialists. 

ERC's 7 MPs will vote in favor of Armengol as speaker in exchange for making Catalan official in Spanish and European institutions, including courts, and getting to the bottom of the Pegasus espionage affair that saw over 60 people with ties to the independence movement targeted with government-grade spyware.

In addition, the agreement states that the Socialists are committed to "putting an end to the repression of the independence movement through the necessary legal channels." An initial Esquerra press release made mention of a potential amnesty for those who face charges relating to the push for independence, but the final version of the document makes no reference to this possibility.