Spain Poker Coalition
Spain will most likely have a new government with the participation of Catalan separatists. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) reached an agreement with the separatist Junts per Catalunya party on Thursday. A crucial part of the agreement had already caused great excitement in advance.
09.11.2023 12.57
Online since today, 12:57 pm
Not in Spain, but in the Belgian capital, Brussels, senior PSOE official and negotiator Santos Cerdan appeared before the press on Thursday and announced the agreement with the Catalan Junts. The location was no coincidence. Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium six years ago. He wanted to avoid persecution by Spanish authorities after a failed attempt to secede from Catalonia.
In the future, Puigdemont will probably be able to return to Spain unmolested. Part of the agreement between the PSOE and Junts is an amnesty for numerous – possibly thousands – Catalan separatists who were involved in the region’s attempted secession in 2017. Leading Junts politicians and other Catalan activists have been charged by the Spanish judiciary and some were sentenced to long prison terms. In return, Junts assured Sanchez of support in forming a new government.
Decisive step towards the new Sanchez government
This significantly increased Sanchez’s chances of getting another term as Spanish Prime Minister. The social democrat, who has been at the head of Spain since 2018, still needs the support of a small Basque party – the National Party of the Basque Country (PNV), with which negotiations continue. Unlike before with Junts, a deal here is considered unproblematic.
However, the agreement for Junts’ participation in the government is unlikely to facilitate Sanchez’s political work. The amnesty law is highly controversial in Spain and has already sparked violent protests, including in the capital Madrid. The conservative opposition, the far-right Vox party and members of the judiciary accused Sánchez of corruption and abandonment of the rule of law.
The election did not produce clear results
The previous head of government, Sanchez, was tasked with forming a government after conservative Alberto Nunez Feijoo failed to do so. The July elections led to an unclear majority in the Spanish parliament. The conservative PP became the strongest force, but was unable to find enough supporters to obtain a governing majority.
As a result, finding the majority was also difficult for Sanchez. The Social Democrat was initially only sure of the support of the left-wing Sumar alliance, but to form a government he also needed the support of the seven deputies of Puigdemont’s independence supporters. They are now safe for him – and a new election in January seems out of the question for now. This would be necessary if a government majority was not found in parliament by 27 November.