May 4, 2024

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Carles Puigdemont seeks “forgiveness” from Catalan separatists in exchange for support for socialist prime minister

Carles Puigdemont seeks “forgiveness” from Catalan separatists in exchange for support for socialist prime minister

Spain’s political class has yet to form a majority in the last legislative elections, for more than a month. This conditional march by the separatists will put Pedro Sánchez in a good position to return to power.

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Independence leader Carles Puigdemont speaks in Brussels (Belgium) on September 5, 2023.  (John Thies/AFP)

It is thousands of kilometers from Madrid. However, Carles Puigdemont agitated the Spanish political class from Brussels, where he was exiled. The Catalan separatist demanded during a press conference on Tuesday, September 5. “sorry” His colleagues who were prosecuted by the courts in return for their support of Pedro Sánchez. A socialist prime minister needs the votes of these pro-independence delegates to be returned to power by parliament.

Since legislative elections on July 23, Spain has not had a clear parliamentary majority. King Felipe VI asked Pedro Sánchez’s conservative rival, Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijo, to run for prime minister after winning the election. Debates and a vote will be held in parliament by the end of September, but his candidacy is struggling to secure the necessary majority. Still running, Pedro Sánchez can hope to be reinvested if he finds common ground with separatists.

The price of this rally, determined by their figurehead, is high: Carles Puigdemont demands “Complete and efficient abandonment of judicial recourse against freedom movement” via “Amnesty Act”. Since Catalonia’s secession attempt in 2017, when he was president, Carlos Puigdemont has fled to Belgium under an arrest warrant issued by Spain’s justice system.