Sánchez partners ‘weakened’ by resignation scare, Catalan president warns

6 months ago 31

The resignation scare Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez gave the whole country last week has “weakened” and undermined the unity of his separatist and left-wing partners who ensure his government’s stability, the regional president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, said on Thursday.

Aragonès, of the separatist ERC formation, stressed that the five days of “reflection” taken by the Spanish prime minister and socialist leader last week had contributed to generating a sense of instability among the political parties that support him in parliament, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

His words come as a serious warning to Sánchez, in the midst of the campaign for the snap elections in Catalonia on 12 May, in which – according to the polls – the socialist candidate and former health minister Salvador Illa (PSC) is the favourite.

In a “letter to the citizens” published on X, Sánchez announced last week that he would take a few days to consider whether he would remain at the helm of the executive following attacks from the right and far-right against his wife, Begoña Gómez, currently under investigation by a Madrid judge for alleged corruption and influence peddling.

However, he announced on Monday that he would remain in his post to help fight the “mud” that he said has been poured against his family by the main opposition force Partido Popular (PP/EPP), and the third-largest party in the parliament, the far-right VOX.

Both the ERC and its right-wing separatist rival, Together for Catalonia (JxCat), led by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, provide key parliamentary backing – with their seven MPs each in Madrid – to ensure the stability of Sánchez’s coalition government with the left-wing Sumar platform, led by Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz.

Threats to bring down Sánchez’s government

Although the PSOE has reached agreements with ERC and JxCat, as well as with the two main Basque pro-independence forces, the radical left-wing separatist EH-Bildu and the moderate nationalist PNV, the prime minister’s “hiatus”, which PP and VOX have described as a mere political strategy to strengthen his “autocratic” leadership, has not gone well, said Aragonès.

Despite his support in parliament, Aragonès, the ERC’s main candidate in the Catalan elections, made it clear that this was not a “blank cheque” and urged Sánchez to fulfil “as soon as possible” the agreements that ERC (and JxCat) signed with the PSOE – in exchange for, among other concessions, a generous amnesty law to pardon those involved in separatist actions in Catalonia between 2012 and 2013, including the serious secessionist attempt of October 2017.

“We want to have it (an agreement to fulfil the signed pacts) as soon as possible because we don’t know how long the Spanish legislature will last,” said Aragonès, who on several occasions has warned that the “ultimate goal” of his party is a referendum of self-determination for Catalonia, which is prohibited by the Spanish Constitution, and a “red line” for Sánchez.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)