After five months of tough negotiations, pro-independence parties in Catalonia have announced they have formed a new coalition government in the northeastern region that staves off the need for fresh regional elections, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
The agreement announced on Monday (17 May) was sealed over the weekend by pro-independence parties the Republican Left of Catalonia, (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat).
Profound divergences between ERC, JxCat and the far-left, pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) had resulted in little progress until last week. The deadline to form a new government had been due to expire on 26 May.
The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) candidate, former Spanish health minister Salvador Illa, obtained a narrow victory in the regional elections held on 14 February.
However, Illa’s path to becoming president of the regional government was blocked by all pro-independence parties, which had agreed before the election to veto any pact with the PSC.
The ERC and JxCat agreed that ERC’s acting president of the Catalan regional government, Pere Aragones, should be confirmed as the new president of the regional executive, party sources said.
Aragones and JxCat member Jordi Sanchez, who negotiated the agreement, told a press conference on Monday afternoon that Catalonia’s new legislature would be ready to open on Thursday.
Both leaders promised to step up efforts to secure Catalonian independence.
An independent ‘Catalan Republic’
The ERC and JxCat apologised for having “prolonged so long” the negotiations and expressed their commitment to “build a government that seeks to rebuild trust with the citizens of Catalonia”.
“The objective is none other than to serve the ‘country’ [the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia] and the people in the best possible way, to govern for all and at the same time to be able to move towards the common goal of independence in the form of a Catalan Republic,” ERC and JxCat wrote in a joint press release.
The Spanish government, a coalition of the socialist party PSOE and left-wing United We Can, expressed concern over the ERC-JxCat agreement, but stressed its commitment to negotiate with the new Catalan executive.
Less popular support for independence
Support for Catalonian independence has fallen to only 43% among Catalan citizens, according to a survey by GAD3 published in January by the newspaper La Vanguardia.
In the February election, Illa’s PSC won in terms of votes and even tied with the nationalists of ERC, with both party winning 33 seats each.
JxCat gained 32 seats. Any party needs 68 seats of the total 135 in the regional parliament to hold a majority. The CUP obtained nine seats in February.
Despite their differences, the pro-independence parties in Catalonia share similar goals, including the right to self-determination for Catalonia and amnesty for 12 Catalan separatist politicians who were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison for their role in an illegal independence referendum in 2017.
Among the so-called “political prisoners” is ERC’s leader Oriol Junqueras, who was charged with sedition.
The political situation in Catalonia influences the political stability in the rest of Spain given that the national minority government relies on support from the ERC in the parliament in Madrid.
*first published in: www.euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
