By Joan Faus
BARCELONA (Reuters) – Spain’s Socialists (PSOE), seeking to form a government after a hard-fought national election, should not take the support of Catalonia’s separatist parties for granted, one of their leaders said on Wednesday.
Senior Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) leader Pere Aragones, in his first interview since the election in which neither the left or right blocs won a clear majority, also argued that there were legal paths for another referendum on Catalan independence.
A failed independence bid by the region in 2017, including a referendum declared illegal by the courts, plunged Spain into its deepest political crisis since a coup attempt in 1981 as it transitioned back to democracy.
ERC, which supported Pedro Sanchez’s government in the last parliament, and Junts – a more hardline Catalan party which did not back the Socialist Prime Minister last time – have emerged as kingmakers following the July 23 vote.
Sanchez, whose PSOE opposes Catalan independence and came second in the election behind the conservative People’s Party, needs the backing of both separatist parties if he is to secure enough support to form another government.
“It is Pedro Sanchez who has to make the moves to get support,” Aragones said. “He cannot take anything for granted. (He) will have to earn it,” said Aragones, who is also head of Catalonia’s regional government.
The ERC supported Sanchez’s investiture in parliament in 2020 in exchange for talks on Catalonia’s political future. The PSOE has insisted it will only act within what the constitution allows.
Aragones argued that Spain’s constitution is flexible enough to find unspecified “legal paths” to allow a referendum, saying it depended on having the “political will” to make it happen.
To renew its support, ERC wants further talks, to cut the region’s contributions to the national public finances, and to take control of local train services.
“It’s a great opportunity and I don’t know how long it will take us to get another one,” said Aragones, who wants ERC and Junts to put forward joint demands.
Junts is demanding a referendum on independence and an amnesty for all separatists facing legal charges related to the failed 2017 independence bid.
Aragones said the two parties’ leverage could help obtain a referendum and amnesty, but also concessions in financial or cultural issues.
He declined to say whether the ERC might rein in some demands but added: “I think the agreements would have to be very specific in all the issues… and to be implemented as soon as possible or under a very strict calendar,” he said.
(Reporting by Joan Faus; editing by Charlie Devereux and John Stonestreet)
