Agreement to continue

Meeting on Tuesday night in Brussels, Carles Puigdemont and ERC’s Marta Rovira reached an agreement to constitute a pro-independence majority of the House Committee and attempt to have Puigdemont invested as President of the Generalitat, despite the geographical difficulties and pending legal questions. Talks continued yesterday in the Belgian capital and according to sources close to the negotiations both JxCat and ERC ruled out a deadlock which would lead to new elections. The remaining point in the talks centres on the restoration of the “legitimate government” in spite of the obstacles. Just how Puigdemont would be invested remains unclear.

ERC will take the position of Speaker of the House while it is unclear if Carme Forcadell is willing to assume the position. The two main forces will maintain an equal weighting in the government and Oriol Junqueras is obvious choice for the vice-presidency, although much will depend on judge Pablo Llarena allowing him to attend the session. Both groups are taking legal advice on the complex situation and have also asked the House Judicial Advisors to form an opinion. Whether the investiture is carried out by electronic means or by representative delegation, it is quite possible that Spain’s government could appeal against any such move to the Constitutional Court.

Before any of these possibilities come to fruition however, there exist elements of uncertainty related to the composition of Parliament itself in ensuring that the pro-independence block will have the sufficient numerical support to force the composition of the House Committee it needs and under what terms.