Increasing demands of separatists are a challenge for the new government of “Pedro Sanchez” in Spain

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, newspaper ” Noye Zurich Saitong wrote in an article: A few days ago, Real Madrid won the Super Cup with a score of 4-1 against Barcelona. But on the political scene, Catalonia is now on the offensive. The separatist offensive is forcing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to improve a controversial amnesty law so that former Catalan Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont can return to Spain from exile in Brussels without fear of arrest.

Of course, Puigdemont is no longer accused of “rebellion” in connection with the events of October 1, 2017, but his arrest warrant in Spain for “abuse of public funds and civil disobedience” is still in effect. The independence referendum law has been in place for about 6 years.

The fact that Sánchez is so keen on Puigdemont is related to the fact that his government is backed by seven MPs. Younes separatist party is affiliated. This issue was evident last week in the first vote on the package of anti-crisis measures by the newly elected Sanchez government, which urgently needed to be approved so that Madrid could receive billions more from the European Union.

Until recently, Puigdemont’s separatist party Younes had threatened to vote against the package if the government did not respond to Catalonia’s new demands. At the last minute, the Untes party caved in after a tense meeting, but only because Sánchez had promised new powers for Catalonia’s regional government. Accordingly, in the future they can have a say in the immigration policy in their region.

This is an important issue for the separatists because the ratio of immigrants in Catalonia is 16.3 The percentage is the highest in Spain. In Barcelona, ​​the capital of this region, this share is more than 22%. Normally, the power and authority on the issue of immigration rests with the central government in Madrid. The Catalans have been trying for eighteen years for changes in this field, but so far they have not succeeded. Until now, Catalonia was responsible for the police and internal security. If the immigration policy is also added, this region will have more autonomy powers similar to the Canadian province of Quebec. He made it clear that his party would not automatically support Pedro Sánchez in any way. According to Nogras, the government has to get the consent of his party for every vote in the parliament.

The opposition considers these conditions blackmail. Polish opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijo never tires of accusing Sánchez of selling the country’s honor for getting seven votes. He has just called his compatriots for another big demonstration in Madrid against the Sánchez government on January 28. Prepare for new protests in the streets. There is dissatisfaction even in the ranks of the insiders and among his coalition partners. Emiliano García Paige, the regional president of Castile-La Mancha and Sánchez’s biggest critic in his party, criticized that a government could not engage in such bargaining. In the meantime, other small parties that support Sánchez are also demanding new concessions. The Basque bourgeois PNV party now wants to control immigration alone to keep its voters in line.

Equally for Sánchez’s minority government, differences The camp of the left wing is sensitive and dangerous. His longtime coalition partner Podemos defeated his unemployment benefit reforms in a vote last week, with just five MPs. The Podemos party is angry that they were not given any ministerial posts in the new Sanchez government, they feel betrayed and are looking for revenge.

In this Sanchez’s condition must feel like every day he survives is a small victory. In the history of Spanish democracy, a government has never had to take such balancing measures to respond to the concerns and demands of its “allies”.

The author continued to write : In this situation, the end of the current government of Spain led by Pedro Sánchez may soon come. The amnesty law is expected to take effect at the end of April. Puigdemont then returns from exile and insists on Sánchez’s approval for another referendum on secession from Catalonia. Puigdemont and his colleagues have made this abundantly clear time and time again. But at this point, Sanchez’s hands are constitutionally tied. At most at that point, supporters of Esteghlal will probably withdraw their support and new elections will become inevitable.

Conservatives and right-wing populists in Spain accuse Sanchez. who wants to establish a “dictatorship” and endangers democracy, the separation of powers and the unity of Spain. That is why, according to them, the Spaniards should demonstrate until the new elections are held.

The decisive factor for the re-election of Sanchez was the support of the two Catalan parties to whom he promised to enact an amnesty law for independence supporters of this separatist region. The amnesty law promised to the separatists was accused of violating the law.

The amnesty promised by Sanchez to the separatists, especially for the benefit of those activists They were pursued by the country’s judicial system after the unsuccessful separation of Catalonia from Spain in 2017. Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who could return to Spain after years in exile, would also benefit.

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