CATALAN President Quim Torra has repeated his call for pro-independence members of Congress to reject Spain’s budget proposals unless Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offers a “political solution” to the stalemate between the two.
Sánchez has indicated that he will present the budget to his council of ministers at a meeting tomorrow.
With just 84 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish parliament, he has no guarantee of gaining enough support to push through his budget without support from the left-wing anti-austerity Podemos, along with pro-independence members from Catalonia and the Basque Country.
However, he has been on something of a charm offensive and some politicians in Catalonia are hoping for something in the way of “sweeteners”.
READ MORE: Spain perceived placid Catalan independence protests as a ‘threat’
Sánchez has ruled out any discussion of Catalan self-determination but Torra is as stubborn as the prime minister.
“From the day of the vote in which Sánchez was invested we asked for the same [thing], a political solution … the recognition of the right to self-determination,” he said.
“Sánchez has not moved we will maintain a dialogue with the state government whether or not there are budgets.”
Roger Torrent, the Catalan parliament speaker, warned that Sánchez would not be given a blank cheque to support his budget. He told Catalonia Radio that Madrid had to “abandon the repression” against the independence movement and negotiate bilaterally with Barcelona.
However, Sánchez said he planned to garner support from across the political divide.
“We are going to do it with all the parliamentary forces, not just pro-independence forces but also with those who are asking us not to depend on separatists,” he said. “We are going to stretch out a hand of friendship to the Popular Party (conservative opposition) and Ciudadanos (right-wing Citizens).”
Pro-independence parties helped Sánchez ouster his predecessor Mariano Rajoy, so he relies to some extent on their support, but they are not his only problem. He is also facing an upsurge in support for right-wing parties, in particular the far-right VOX, which secured 12 seats in December elections in Andalusia.
Sánchez said: “I believe Catalonia has conditioned Spanish politics for the last 30 years.
“What has always happened is that when the right has found itself in opposition it has used Catalonia and the Basque Country as a regional grievance in an attempt to scrape together votes from other areas in Spain. Ciudadanos bargains with VOX. What I see is that [leader] Albert Rivera has made the wrong decision.”
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