Head of Catalonia's regional government, Pere Aragones, on Tuesday called on Catalan pro-independence parties the Republican Catalan Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya, or Junts) to seize the post-election negotiations with Madrid as an opportunity to move closer to holding an independence referendum in the autonomous region
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2023) Head of Catalonia's regional government, Pere Aragones, on Tuesday called on Catalan pro-independence parties the Republican Catalan Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya, or Junts) to seize the post-election negotiations with Madrid as an opportunity to move closer to holding an independence referendum in the autonomous region.
"It is necessary to end infrastructure budget deficit that seems to exist in Catalonia and to make progress in resolving the political conflict with the state, that is, to be able to vote in a referendum and put an end to repressions ... (Spanish Prime Minister) Pedro Sanchez must make a move and address the Catalan agenda," Aragones said at a briefing after a weekly Catalan government meeting, during which he summed up the results of the political year before the summer recess.
In late July, snap parliamentary elections took place in Spain. The opposition conservative People's Party (PP) won the majority of votes, getting 136 of 350 seats in the Spanish parliament. However, even with the support of the far-right VOX party, the PP will not be able to form a new government, since both only secured a combined 169 votes instead of the 176 required. Therefore, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), led by Sanchez, which got 122 seats, will potentially be able to form a left-wing coalition government that will reelect Sanchez as the prime minister.
Both the ERC and the Junts, which got seven seats each, have already approached the PSOE to work out an agreement, Spanish media reported.
Sanchez called snap elections on July 23 after the PSOE and its smaller coalition partner Podemos suffered setbacks and the PP won regional elections on May 29.
