The Government leaves the date and format of the party table in the hands of the Congress Table

The spokesmen for the groups in Congress had received a message from the Government to reserve almost two hours this Tuesday, between 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., with the idea of ​​holding a videoconference to launch the party table from which they had been talking with a view to new agreements of the Moncloa.

However, in the conversation that they had this Monday between President Pedro Sánchez and the PP leader, Pablo Casado, the script was changed when betting on a parliamentary body within the scope of Congress, presumably a commission, to channel that dialogue, as claimed by the 'popular'. Of course, the two major parties have not yet finalized the format, nor have they agreed whether to take advantage of an existing commission, or to create a new one, or if instead they opt for another body, a type of study subcommittee such as the that illuminated the agreement against sexist violence.

Thus, the Government has called off that videoconference and has left the decision to the Congress Table, which precisely this Tuesday has a meeting scheduled for four in the afternoon under the presidency of Meritxell Batet. And that same afternoon a Board of Spokespersons was convened, so the Bureau could take advantage of the opinion of the parliamentary groups before taking a decision on the format.

THE FORMAT, THE LESS

In his appearance before the media, Montero has played down the format that is finally adopted and has focused on greeting that the PP leader has accepted to participate in these talks to seek broad consensus to revive the economy and strengthen the Welfare State once the coronavirus pandemic has been overcome. "The least important thing is the format," he indicated. The important thing, is his opinion, is that a pact is reached quickly that can be put into action immediately for the benefit of the citizens.

Now, Montero wanted to make it clear that in the conversation that the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the PP leader, Pablo Casado, had this morning, no "pact on the operation" of the future commission has been reached, given that the work methodology will have to be discussed among all the participants in the first meeting of the body that they agree to implement.

In this sense, he recalled that the Government's proposal is to try to find consensus in four areas of action: reactivation of the economy; social policies and care system; strengthening public health and a common position in the EU negotiations on instruments to deal with the crisis.

Although this is the proposal of the Executive, Montero has indicated that they will have to submit to what the majority of the groups participating in the talks decide, but has advanced that for the Government it is not a problem if instead of these four issues, it is decided expand the discussions to "10 or 20" topics that are identified as priorities.

Of course, he stressed that what is desirable is to be able to reach a broad consensus that allows some decisions to be made on economic injections in the second half of the year. And it is that the calendar that Sánchez had self-imposed set the month of June as the limit to reach an agreement at the party table, which could be signed by the CCAA and local entities - fundamental in their application - in the first fortnight of June.