18th May 2025
Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias
Barcelona News Catalonia News Madrid News Main News

Pedro Sánchez confident he can secure support to form government

Spain’s acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday that he is confident that a ‘full capacity’ government can be formed ‘in the next few weeks’, following on from the general election on 10 November, and his subsequent pre-agreement with Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias to form a coalition government.

ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias reach pre-agreement for coalition government

For it to happen, however, Sánchez first needs to secure enough support in the Spanish Congress to back, or at least not oppose, him being invested as the new head of government. This will depend largely on the Catalan pro-independence parties, who between them have 23 seats in congress.

Thirteen of those seats belong to the Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party. Before it decides to offer its support to Sánchez, however, it intends to ask its membership on Monday where they stand on helping to invest the Socialist (PSOE) leader.

ALSO READ: Number-crunching: who will Pedro Sánchez pact with (if anyone)?

Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias
Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias shake hands after signing their agreement on 12 November 2019.

ERC has so far stood firm in its intention to vote ‘no’ to Sánchez, unless the acting prime minister agrees to have formal negotiations on Catalonia’s political future, with a set agenda and guarantees that any agreements reached will be carried out.

With eight congress seats, the pro-independence Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) party has also taken the same stance. There is to be a meeting to be held between JxCat and ERC next week to explore the possibility of adopting a common position.

ALSO READ: Focus: Spain is trapped in political instability. The main reason? Catalonia

As for the other Catalan pro-independence party, the far-left CUP, which won two seats in the Spanish Congress for the first time, it has said that it would also hold meetings this week with JxCat and ERC, as well as others, to tackle the issue of the upcoming investiture debate.

ALSO READ: Sánchez a ‘felon, illegitimate, traitor’ for Catalan ‘rapporteur’

Yet CUP has called on ERC and JxCat to join them in a cross-party front to oppose investing Sánchez, and to call for an amnesty for the jailed independence leaders, sentenced to up to 13 years on 14 October by Spain’s Supreme Court.

Whether ERC can convince its membership, JxCat, and perhaps even CUP, to back its proposal for formal, mediated talks between Catalonia and Madrid as a precondition for voting for Sánchez remains to be seen.

Yet, the idea of formal talks is not new, as the Spanish government suspended similar negotiations in February, ruling out a vote on self-determination after opposition parties in the Spanish Congress accused it of giving in to the pro-independence parties.

ALSO READ: No Catalan independence ‘offline or online’, warns Pedro Sánchez

 

Recent Posts

Spain’s national broadcaster defies Eurovision organisers, and airs support message for Palestine

News Desk

15 fans injured after car ploughs into crowds before Barça win La Liga title

News Desk

Spanish police dismantle lucrative Chinese-Arab money laundering ring

News Desk

Madrid airport to restrict access for non-travellers due to homeless encampment problem

News Desk

Spanish government rules out that a cyberattack caused nationwide blackout

News Desk

EU president Von der Leyen meets with Valencia flood victims’ associations in Brussels

News Desk

Leave a Comment