The appeasement strategy favoured by the Socialists has certainly proven more successful in the intervening years than the open confrontation chosen by Sánchez’s conservative rivals. Now he is defending it as a necessary step in defusing a separatist crisis that goes back at least a decade. As late as July, Sánchez himself ruled out an amnesty for pro-independence leaders before the election. Sánchez has alienated the approximately 40% of his own voters who oppose the amnesty, according to polls. The national unity issue is also fuelling resentment in the rest of the country, as grievances mount over perceived regional inequality and discrimination against Spanish speakers within Catalonia. But uncertainty lingers over what a Puigdemont return could mean for politics and social harmony in the region and beyond.ĭespite outward calm, Catalonia remains divided on independence: 52% of citizens oppose it, and 42% support it, according to the latest data from the Catalan government statistics bureau. Sánchez is defending the agreement on pragmatic grounds, arguing that it will pacify Catalonia and normalise relations with separatist parties. The European Commission has already expressed reservations about the amnesty. The concern is that it could pose a serious challenge to the rule of law and the separation of powers. This last point, the details of which are still unclear, has sparked criticism from legal associations of all stripes. Additionally, his pact with Sanchez includes the launch of a formal dialogue on the status of Catalonia with an international mediator, and a highly contentious review of judicial decisions. In an extraordinary reversal of fortunes, Carles Puigdemont, the former Catalan president who organised an illegal referendum in 2017 and subsequently fled to Brussels to avoid prosecution, has secured an amnesty for those involved in the independence movement who were either convicted in the past decade or are still facing trial. Junts, a diehard, rightwing, Catalan separatist party, despite performing abysmally in Catalonia in the general election, has been able to use its seven seats in parliament to become kingmaker. After months of talks and a failed attempt by the centre-right PP and Vox to form a government, Sánchez has now secured enough votes to form a coalition government with the leftist Sumar.īut this pact comes at a high price, relying as it does on the support of smaller parties, mostly nationalists from Catalonia and the Basque Country. While violent protests, rare enough in Spain, may fizzle out, it’s not clear that the wider political tension will subside as quickly as Sánchez suggests. In Cádiz, a local Socialist official was physically attacked and called a “traitor”. Protests have been mostly peaceful, but some have turned violent: the most intense clashes, featuring fascist flags and Nazi salutes, took place outside the Socialist party headquarters in Madrid.
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