The government has to negotiate with the Catalans on every law and vote, limiting its power to make laws.
A key ally of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Catalan separatist party Junts per Catalunya, Carles Puigdemont, said he was destroying all negotiations with him. He said this at a press conference in Brussels on January 17, Bloomberg reports.
“The budget will not be the subject of negotiations. If there are decrees or legislative initiatives, they should not seek us,” said Puigdemont.
The rocky relationship between the Junts and Prime Minister Sánchez is known to have set the pace of government since Catalan party lawmakers withdrew critical support from the Socialists to secure their government in 2023.
Since then, the government has had to negotiate each law and vote with the Catalans, limiting its power to legislate.
This situation means that Spain has not passed a budget for 2024 and no budget for 2025. The loss of Puigdemont’s support will further limit the prime minister’s legislative powers and deepen parliamentary paralysis. Puigdemont said Sanchez must restore Junts’ trust.
For the government to fall apart, Puigdemont must go further and support another party with enough support to form a government. Under the Spanish political system, the prime minister can only be replaced when his successor is elected by a majority in parliament.
In Spain, there are two types of votes of confidence: one that can only be initiated by the government, called a “vote of confidence”, and the other, which can be initiated by the opposition, known as a “vote of no confidence . “.
The political tension stems from Puigdemont’s demand in December that Sánchez submit to a vote of confidence. The Prime Minister replied that this was his exclusive prerogative and he had not sought such a vote.
Sánchez needs seven deputies from Junts per Catalunya to form a government in 2023 after the elections. In return, the government agreed to grant a broad amnesty to hundreds of separatists facing charges related to the failed declaration of independence in 2017.
The government also promised to fulfill some political demands. Junts claims that he did not follow them. One of the most controversial is the request to transfer immigration control to the Catalan regional government.
Spain’s largest political group, the conservative People’s Party, leads the opposition to Sanchez, and its leaders have repeatedly said publicly that it should back Junts to replace the prime minister. However, to do this, the People’s Party will also need the support of the far-right party Vox, and the Junts and Vox are definitely against any joint work.
Earlier it was reported that in Spain, for the first time, an amnesty was applied to Catalan separatists.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.