Sanchez Nears Forming New Government with Help of Catalan Separatists

Madrid (Reuters) – In Spain, acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is almost at the goal of forming a new government with the help of Catalan separatists, according to media reports.

The broadcaster TVE and the newspaper “La Vanguardia” reported on Thursday that Sanchez’s socialist PSOE had reached a corresponding agreement with the Catalan separatist party Junts. Neither PSOE nor Junts initially confirmed this.

The newspapers “El Pais” and “El Mundo” reported unanimously that all that was needed was the consent of the Basque nationalist party PNV to form a government. “El Pais”, citing PSOE circles, writes that negotiations with PNV are at an advanced stage and that an agreement is about to be signed. Observers fear that this threatens a new phase of political instability, as the Catalan separatists are committed to breaking away from Spain.

SANCHEZ WANTS TO RELY ON SEVERAL SMALL PARTIES

Sanchez formed a coalition with the left-wing Sumar after parliamentary elections in July. However, in order to be confirmed as head of government, he needs the support of other small parties. Sanchez has been prime minister since 2018 and has led a minority government since 2020. In the election, his PSOE received fewer seats than the conservatives under opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo. However, he failed to achieve the majority required in parliament to form a government. Sanchez then began negotiations.

Junts has demanded an amnesty for convicted separatists as a condition of supporting Sanchez. They were involved in the attempt to declare Catalonia independent in 2017. At the beginning of November, the PSOE concluded an agreement with the Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC).

BIG RESERVATIONS AGAINST PLANNED AMNESTY

The planned amnesty is controversial in the country and in the European Union (EU). In a survey from mid-September, around 70 percent of those surveyed spoke out against an amnesty – 59 percent of them were socialist supporters. 69 percent of respondents said separatist leaders committed a crime in 2017. In addition, the highest supervisory body of the Spanish judiciary, the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, has expressed serious concerns about the project. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders also takes this line. In a letter to the government in Madrid published on Wednesday, he expressed serious concerns about the plans for an amnesty law.

The most prominent beneficiary of the amnesty would be the former head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont. The Junts politician declared Catalonia independent in 2017 after a controversial referendum. The central government then accused him of rebellion and embezzlement of public funds. The Constitutional Court saw the Catalan’s actions as a breach of the constitution. At that time, the Catalan regional government was stripped of its power by the central government, new elections were ordered and Puigdemont was put on a wanted list. He then went abroad, including to Germany. Sanchez had once vowed to bring Puigdemont to justice.

Sanchez’s concessions to the separatists have already driven conservative and right-wing supporters onto the streets. On Monday evening, around 4,000 people demonstrated in front of the PSOE party headquarters in Madrid. They called for Sanchez to be thrown in prison and claimed the “right of Spaniards to protect Spain.” Sanchez countered on X: “The attack on the PSOE office is an attack on democracy and on everyone who believes in it.” According to media reports, the police broke up the tumultuous protests with tear gas and rubber bullets.

(Report by Belen Carreno, Joan Faus and Graham Keeley, written by Hans Busemann. Edited by Christian Götz. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@ thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)