Sanchez’s move to woo Catalan extremists sparks ire

Protests broke out in Spain against socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s agreement with the smaller Catalan separatists’ party, the Junts’ support to form a government in a hung parliament in return for amnesty to all the Catalan separatists convicted for attempted secession from Spain in 2017.

It seemed that a larger number of Spanish people, including the opposition, are enraged by the opportunism displayed by Sanchez for his desire to remain in power after he failed to win the mandate from the people. Opposition People’s Party (PP) leader Alberto Nenez Feijoo said at a protest rally in Madrid, “We will not shut up until there are new elections.”

Majority of the protestors, and according to estimates it was 80,000, carried the Spanish and European Union (EU) flags, and carried banners which said, “Respect the Constitution.” One of the protestors, Tomas Perez, 38, a banker, holding a placard which said, “Sanchez traitor”, said, “He (Sanchez) has betrayed co-existence, democracy…he can’t keep governing.”

Immaculada Herranz Castro, 64, expressed the response of the people over Sanchez’ move: “Many people that I know who vote for the Socialists feel absolutely disappointed because...Sanchez never said the amnesty would be part of his programme.”

Sanchez has been courting smaller parties other than the Catalans’ Junts. The Basque Nationalist Party too has agreed to support the Sanchez government. The support of the Catalan and Basque parties ensures Sanchez the absolute majority he needs.

The Spanish dilemma of an inconclusive election where no party gets a majority forces the bigger parties to look out for support among the smaller parties. While coalition of incompatible parties becomes inevitable, what has angered public opinion in the case of Sanchez is that he has agreed to let go of Catalan separatists who had tried to break away from Spain. This could not be viewed as nothing short of betrayal. But the fact is that the separatist parties of the Catalans, the Basques, the Galicians have fought elections and won seats, and this would go to show that these parties are legal and they are part of Spain’s multi-party system.

The amnesty that Junts has insisted on for the Catalan separatists is not as bizarre as it might appear to be. The secession attempt had failed, and the Catalans are reconciled to be with Spain. The amnesty can be seen as legitimate political bargaining, which could go a long way in dealing with the sentiments and aspirations of the Catalans. Compromises, which could mean nothing short of surrender, are the bitter medicine that the contesting parties in a dispute have to swallow to keep Spain united.

But this is not an easy proposition to sell, and the opposition parties would be well within their rights to raise a hue and cry about it. The PP had improved its tally compared to its performance in 2019, but it does not have the required majority of 176 in a house of 355 to form a government. The Socialists under Sanchez have won 122 seats, while his far-left Sumar and its much smaller partner, Unidas Podemos, won 31 lower-house seats. And he has the support of the far-left, pro-independence Catalan party, ERC, which had supported Sanchez’ government on key issues. The support of Junts and the Basques brought in the numbers that Sanchez needed.

Sanchez can now form the coalition government, however messy it may be, because all the coalition partners are legal entities and each of them has won seats in the election. The issue of granting amnesty to the Catalan secessionists of 2017 might appear to be taking the coalition game too far, but it remains within the constitutional framework. And it may be needed to keep the Catalans in Spain.