image
1

Pere Aragonès (ERC) and Jordi Sànchez (JxCat) have announced a government pre-agreement , Source: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya / Marc Puig

New pro-independence government to lead Catalonia

New pro-independence government to lead Catalonia

The road ahead for the region remains thus uncertain

The Catalan Socialist Party may have won the most votes in the regional vote held on 14 February, but it seems now that the opposition and pro-independence parties have joined forces and signed a pact that gives them the advantage and a majority to form the new government. That means that Pere Aragonés (ERC), the current and provisional President of Catalonia will retain his position after the rival independentist party JxCat decided to support him after months of deadlock.

The new administration plans to continue seeking sovereignty

The new government will also be supported by the far-left CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy), thus forming a new block that has the vision of trying to forge a Catalan Republic, despite the political disagreements on other ideological issues among the constituting parties.

The new coalition at least agreed on not wanting to see Salvador Illa (PSC), former Health Minister in the Spanish Government, become the next President. And they had the looming deadline of 26 May to find a solution to the political dead-end.

A survey published by La Vanguardia newspaper in January showed that support for independence had fallen down to 43% among Catalan citizens. Nevertheless, the three parties collectively have 74 seats in the regional assembly which is well over the minimum mark of 68 seats required to enjoy a majority.

The pact between the two parties provides for 14 ministries, divided equally between ERC and JxCat. The ambition of the coalition is to continue to seek independence through democratic means favouring negotiations with Madrid with the goal of convincing the authorities there to allow the carrying out of a referendum on the topic. A referendum that would be legal and unquestionable, unlike the one that took place in 2017.

Newsletter

Back

Growing City

All

Smart City

All

Green City

All

Social City

All

New European Bauhaus

All

Interviews

All

ECP 2021 Winner TheMayorEU

Latest