Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and representatives of the ruling Socialist Party met in Geneva on Friday in an attempt to smooth relations after the separatist leader’s party voted against the ruling Socialists despite having previously agreed to back each other in parliament.
The former Catalan president and leader of the right-wing Catalan separatist party JxCat met with a delegation led by the party’s organisational secretary, Santos Cerdán, according to an exclusive report by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.
On Saturday, however, PSOE sources neither confirmed nor denied the information, claiming that the centre-left party does not publicly state possible negotiations with other political formations.
“Whenever it has had meetings, (the PSOE) has always confirmed them and explained them transparently and normally”, said Digital Transformation Minister Óscar López on Saturday.
“The Socialist Party will explain, in the event that any meeting takes place, the agreements that are reached and the meetings that take place”, he added.
Last Friday’s meeting would be the second between the PSOE and Puigdemont, following talks a year ago when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s party negotiated with the former Catalan president in Geneva to secure JxCat’s support for the Spanish premier’s inauguration and the government’s full term.
Party sources consulted by RTVE last weekend assured that the meeting was part of the regular contacts that both sides maintain in the presence of an international mediator, the Salvadoran diplomat Francisco Galindo Vélez, who acts as a ‘verifier’.
However, analysts suggested over the weekend that the real reason for the meeting was the deterioration in relations between the PSOE and Puigdemont after JxCat voted in parliament last week with the Spanish People’s Party (Partido Popular/EPP), the main opposition force, and with the far-right VOX party (PfE), the third force, against a government proposal to regulate seasonal and room rental contracts.
The precarious stability of the coalition government between Sánchez’s PSOE and the left-wing Sumar platform depends on the support of the seven JxCat MPs, the other seven deputies of its left-wing separatist rival, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), and the pro-independence Basque parties PNV and EH-Bildu, as well as other smaller regional formations.
But Puigdemont and the ERC are exploiting the coalition government’s fragile position to pressure Sánchez’s government in exchange for greater autonomy over Catalonia.
Puigdemont’s threats and challenging the 2025 budget
The PSOE lashed out at JxCat after the separatist party voted together with the right and the far-right, but Puigdemont responded with a message on X urging the PSOE to “digest” and accept that it governs in a minority while warning that “blackmail does not work with JxCat”.
A major obstacle facing the government in the coming weeks is approving the national budget for 2025, for which Puigdemont is also needed.
Last week, the JxCat leader warned that his party would once again – as it did last July – reject the latest draft budget, which is due to be voted on in October.
If the former Catalan president does make good on his threat, it will be the government’s second defeat at the hands of its – theoretical – parliamentary partner, which could jeopardise the continuity of Sánchez’s executive.
However, despite the coalition government’s fragility and the possibility that next year’s budget will not be approved, the Spanish prime minister has reiterated on several occasions that “there is a government for a long time” and that he has no plans to bring forward the elections, which would normally be held in 2027. Calling for snap elections would force him to extend the current budget.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
Source: euractiv.com
