Spain’s new prime minister Pedro Sanchez from PSOE (Spanish nationalist left) rose to office against a backdrop of unprecedented drama. Sanchez ousted his predecessor Mariano Rajoy by passing a
motion of no confidence against the Partido Popular (party founded by seven Franco's Ministers) government. Seizing
on the unique opportunity offered by the sentencing of several
prominent PP officials in a long-running corruption trial, the
opposition leader moved quickly.
1) Sanchez is weak and needed at least 176 votes but his Socialist party (PSOE, linked to torture and terrorism of state) only had 84 seats and Ciudadanos, a far right formation with a strong Spanish imperialist rhetoric, wouldn’t endorse a new left-wing government with Podemos (Spanish left which recognizes the right of self-determinaction). So, Sanchez needed to muster the support of all other parties in the Spanish parliament. This included Podemos, and several national parties from the Basque country and Catalonia, such as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) or Catalan Democratic Party (PDeCAT).
2) He simply cannot resolve the conflict with Catalonia. The extraordinary Catalan elections of December 2017 were called by the Spanish central government immediately after it suspended the Catalan government for having symbolically issued a unilateral declaration of independence after the referendum held on October 1. It suspended the Catalan self-rule with enthusiastic support both of Sanchez, and the PSOE and the far-right. So the PSOE is not an alien by an active element of the Spanish repression in Catalonia.
3) But any hope from Madrid that these elections would quell Catalan democratic demands backfired. The three parties in favour of Catalan independence (Junts Per Cat, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Candidatura d’Unitat Popular) returned to parliament with a majority, determined to pursue their cause, setting them on a collision course with Madrid.
4) Finally PP and Ciudadanos, which may well soon take over the mantle of Spanish imperialism. They hold an equally firm view that any concession on the issue of self-determination is not permissible. That view is shared by an important portion of Spanish public, many of which vote for the PSOE. With a dwindling basis of electoral support, Sanchez can’t afford to alienate them. Sanchez has elected a new government with a judge condemed by the ECHR for tortures and a foreign minister who lived in Catalonia but left it to Madrid and says that "Catalonia must be disinffected".
1) Sanchez is weak and needed at least 176 votes but his Socialist party (PSOE, linked to torture and terrorism of state) only had 84 seats and Ciudadanos, a far right formation with a strong Spanish imperialist rhetoric, wouldn’t endorse a new left-wing government with Podemos (Spanish left which recognizes the right of self-determinaction). So, Sanchez needed to muster the support of all other parties in the Spanish parliament. This included Podemos, and several national parties from the Basque country and Catalonia, such as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) or Catalan Democratic Party (PDeCAT).
2) He simply cannot resolve the conflict with Catalonia. The extraordinary Catalan elections of December 2017 were called by the Spanish central government immediately after it suspended the Catalan government for having symbolically issued a unilateral declaration of independence after the referendum held on October 1. It suspended the Catalan self-rule with enthusiastic support both of Sanchez, and the PSOE and the far-right. So the PSOE is not an alien by an active element of the Spanish repression in Catalonia.
3) But any hope from Madrid that these elections would quell Catalan democratic demands backfired. The three parties in favour of Catalan independence (Junts Per Cat, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Candidatura d’Unitat Popular) returned to parliament with a majority, determined to pursue their cause, setting them on a collision course with Madrid.
4) Finally PP and Ciudadanos, which may well soon take over the mantle of Spanish imperialism. They hold an equally firm view that any concession on the issue of self-determination is not permissible. That view is shared by an important portion of Spanish public, many of which vote for the PSOE. With a dwindling basis of electoral support, Sanchez can’t afford to alienate them. Sanchez has elected a new government with a judge condemed by the ECHR for tortures and a foreign minister who lived in Catalonia but left it to Madrid and says that "Catalonia must be disinffected".
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