The government has confirmed that President Pedro Sánchez held two discreet meetings with ERC leader Oriol Junqueras before their public January 8 gathering at La Moncloa. These focused on negotiating the new regional financing system, which will benefit Catalonia with an additional 4,700 million euros. The confirmation follows days of official silence and highlights Sánchez's strategic push to seal deals with ERC.
President Pedro Sánchez met secretly on two occasions with Oriol Junqueras, leader of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), to advance negotiations on the new regional financing model. Moncloa sources have confirmed these meetings prior to the public gathering on Thursday, January 8, at the presidential palace, which served to formalize the agreement. While dates and locations remain unspecified, Junqueras had already alluded to them on Monday, stating: "For the good of Catalonia, we meet, even if it means going to hell".
Initially, the executive avoided confirming the meetings. La Vanguardia revealed them first, and Junqueras backed them, but government spokesperson Elma Saiz stated Tuesday at the post-Council of Ministers press conference that she had no information on the matter. Saiz defended the "enormous dialogue effort" conducted discreetly, stressing that what matters are the achieved agreements communicated transparently. Government sources deny similar meetings with other independence leaders, such as Carles Puigdemont of Junts or Arnaldo Otegi of EH Bildu.
Following the public meeting, Junqueras announced that Catalonia will receive an extra 4,700 million euros and that the ordinality principle will be respected, positioning it as the third community in both contributions and fund receipts. The next day, First Vice President María Jesús Montero presented the overall proposal for all autonomies, injecting 20,000 million additional euros. This deal upholds ordinality for communities like Catalonia, though it is not guaranteed for others, such as the Community of Madrid.
These three encounters in total—two secret and one public—demonstrate a close political relationship between Sánchez and ERC. They represent a strategic bet to stabilize the legislature and enable the PSC of Salvador Illa to pass budgets in Catalonia, within negotiations that included a prior phone call in October 2023 during the investiture.
