Barcelona, Jul. 30, (dpa/GNA) – The leaders of the left-wing Catalan separatist party ERC and the Socialists of Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez agreed in principle on the formation of a new regional government, according to a statement by an ERC spokeswoman on Monday evening.
Salvador Illa, whose Socialists became the strongest force in the regional parliament in the early regional elections in May, could become the new head of Catalonia’s regional government.
If confirmed, Illa would be the first politician in a long time to hold the post and oppose the region’s secession.
However, the agreement still has to be approved by the ERC’s grassroots membership, after a consultation due to be held on Friday.
If they oppose the agreement, new elections would have to be held.
The second largest separatist party, Junts, led by exiled former leader Carles Puigdemont, has opposed the agreement. He sought to lead Catalonia to independence in 2017 with a referendum that was declared illegal, and currently risks arrest if he returns home.
The Spanish government promised an amnesty for separatists and persuaded parliament to support the move. In return, the Junts lawmakers in the central parliament in Madrid also voted in favour of Sánchez’s re-election as Spanish prime minister.
However, the Spanish judiciary has not yet cancelled an arrest warrant for Puigdemont.
For Sánchez, if Illa is elected it would be a major political success. However, with his left-wing minority government, he is dependent on the votes of Junts in the parliament in Madrid.
Junts lawmakers could make it considerably more difficult for him to govern if they no longer support him, according to Spanish media.
One of the points of contention between the ERC and the Socialists is the call for Catalonia to collect its own taxes in future, like the Basque Country and Navarre, and pay a proportion to the central government.
So far, the central government has collected taxes and passed on a portion to Catalonia, in a similar structure to nearly all of the country’s autonomous communities.
The proposal adopted includes a “solidarity-based economic concept,” meaning the regional government will collect further taxes and new funding to promote the Catalan language, according to La Vanguardia newspaper.
GNA