Separatists as kingmakers: demonstration for the independence of Catalonia

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After a march, demonstrators gathered at Plaça d’Espanya in central Barcelona on Monday evening, a reporter from the German Press Agency reported. They chanted slogans such as ‘Independence, Freedom’. The leader of the Catalan regional government, Pere Aragonès, said shortly before the meeting that the opportunity presented by the sudden interest of the Catalan parties in the formation of a new Spanish government should not be missed.

The ‘Diada’, always held on September 11 to commemorate the loss of self-government in 1714, is seen every year as a measure of the strength of the independence movement. This year the demonstration was watched with particular attention across Spain, as Catalonia’s separatist parties are suddenly playing an important role as kingmakers in Spanish politics, six years after the fall of the separatist attempt in 2017. The two Catalan separatist parties in parliament of Madrid will decide in the coming weeks whether acting government leader Pedro Sánchez can continue to govern or whether new elections will have to be held.

Because without the votes of the Catalans, Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE) would not have a majority. But first, opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the conservative People’s Party (PP), who received the most votes in the July 23 elections, has until September 27 to forge a governing alliance. However, he only gets small chances. Sánchez would then have to negotiate with the left-nationalist ERC of Aragonès and especially with the Junts party of Belgium-based separatist leader Carles Puigdemont. The Junts, less willing to compromise, have so far called for, among other things, an independence referendum, which is considered unacceptable in Spain.

(SDA)

Source: Blick