Sanchez’s party deny independence talks with separatist forces

The ruling Socialist party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is “already talking” to separatist forces about a future independence referendum in Catalonia, the Secretary General of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Marta Rovira said, while Sánchez’s party denies Catalan separation being “on the table”.

The referendum question is a thorny issue in Spain, with the right-wing opposition accusing Sánchez of trying to hold onto power by making concessions to separatist forces in return for which they offer his government sufficient support to pass laws in parliament.

“The investiture agreement [between Sánchez’s PSOE (S&D) and the separatist forces] says very clearly that we are opening the second phase of negotiation of the conflict [with Madrid],” Rovira, the secretary general of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), who is in self-imposed exile in Switzerland told La Vanguardia in an interview.

“We have left the amnesty ready, and in this second phase, it is very clear: self-determination”, Rovira said, adding that “we are already talking about the referendum (with the PSOE) in this second phase, and we will not stop talking about the referendum”.

Her words caused controversy in political circles, as the prime minister and leader of the PSOE has always said that the call for a hypothetical referendum on Catalan independence is completely out of the question and contrary to the country’s constitution.

Sánchez agreed a legislative pact – including the approval of national budgets until 2027 – with both the ERC in the Catalan regional government and its right-wing separatist rival JxCat, led from self-imposed exile in Belgium by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.

The pact includes the approval of an amnesty law for separatist activists responsible for unlawful actions committed in Catalonia between 2011 and 2023, as well as generous economic concessions for the region.

The spokeswoman for the PSOE’s Federal Executive, Esther Peña, rejected Rovira’s words.

“I will be categorical, the PSOE is not in any negotiation that talks about ruptures, referendums and divisions”, Peña said in an interview aired by Spanish public television, RTVE.

PP spokesman, Borja Sémper, said on Monday that there will be a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia because “the pro-independence supporters do not lie”, unlike, in his opinion, Sánchez.

In the controversial interview with La Vanguardia, Rovira stressed that ERC, PSOE and JxCat continue to negotiate very discreetly.

Catalonia will hold snap regional elections on 12 May in which the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) is expected to win, according to the latest polls, with a neck-and-neck race for second place between ERC and JxCat.

According to a recent poll conducted for the Generalitat, 51% of Catalans (a total population of 7.5 million) would reject the region’s independence from the rest of Spain, while 42% support it.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)