The July 23 elections in Spain kept alive hopes that Pedro Sánchez would return to power, despite Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s Popular Party (PP) receiving the most votes. The problem is that to have a majority – and rule out the possibility of a grand coalition – the socialist leader needs the votes of the fourteen independent Catalan deputies. Six years after the referendum, which the Spanish authorities consider illegal, Catalans hold the future of Spain in their hands. They are not only bringing prisoner amnesty to the negotiating table, but also another referendum, this time legal.
“The question of a referendum on self-determination is completely unfeasible. It would mean the end of Sánchez and we know that Sánchez is an expert in survival, he is not suicidal,” Filipe Vasconcelos Romão, professor at the Autonomous University, told DN. . “If we fall within the scope of demanding a referendum on self-determination or the independence of Catalonia, it is clear that Sánchez must call early elections. There is no other solution,” added the expert, who believes that discussing amnesty is now more feasible and “could be the price to pay” for the support of the seven deputies of Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the seven of Junts per Catalunya for the socialist.
Source: DN
