Deadlock over Madrid’s refusal to talk to rebels
SPAIN remained in political deadlock last night as the country’s prime minister appeared to rule out talks with Catalan separatists who won a slim majority in regional elections.
Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont called for negotiations on the region’s future, but refused to return to Spain from self-imposed exile as he faces charges of sedition over his role in October’s declaration of independence.
Prime minister Mariano Rajoy acknowledged the latest election result exposed deep divisions in the country, but failed to commit to talks with Mr Puigdemont.
It means there is no sign of a swift resolution to the biggest constitutional crisis to hit the country since the end of the Franco dictatorship four decades ago.
The election result will be interpreted as another blow for the European Union, which has repeatedly tried and failed to defuse populist campaigns in Spain and elsewhere.
The EU’s major powers, Germany and France, have backed Mr Rajoy’s anti-independence stance despite some limited criticism of his methods.
And Mr Puigdemont’s attempts to gain international support in Brussels have been spurned. He has called the EU a ‘club of decadent countries’ for declining to mediate a solution. Mr Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party recorded its worst ever result in the regional election, losing eight of its 11 seats.
Pro-independence parties won 70 of the 135 seats, giving them a slim majority, and Mr Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia retained its position as the largest separatist group.
Support grew for the region’s biggest unionist party, Citizens, which became the single largest group with 37 seats but did not win overall control.
Its leader Ines Arrimadas admitted forming a coalition would be difficult but said: ‘We will try.’
Mr Puigdemont, who is in Belgium with four members of his deposed cabinet – while two of his ex-ministers are in jail in Spain, said he would return to Catalonia if he was given guarantees that he could take his position as head of a new Catalan government.
‘We’ve at least won the right to be heard,’ he added.
‘Catalonia wants to be an independent state. This is the wish of the Catalan people.
‘The plan of Mariano Rajoy is not working, so we have to find new ways to tackle this crisis.’
Mr Rajoy called for dialogue and reconciliation but dodged questions about whether he would hold talks with separatist parties. He said: ‘The person I should sit down with and talk to is she who won the elections, Ines Arrimadas.’
Conceding that the election result reflected ‘huge’ divisions in the region, he said: ‘It will take time to mend them and that should be the priority for all political actors – reconciliation within the remit of the law.’
Spain’s stock market fell by around 1 per cent after the election and thousands of businesses have scaled down their operations in Catalonia amid uncertainty over its future.
The wealthy region in north-east Spain accounts for around a fifth of the national economy and the country has already trimmed its growth forecasts for next year.
Catalonia was semi-autonomous, but the Madrid government imposed direct rule in October when Mr Puigdemont declared independence after a referendum that had been declared illegal.
Mr Rajoy’s government sacked the Catalan leaders, dissolved their parliament and called the snap regional election. The result was seen as a blow to his authority.
Mr Puigdemont urged the EU to ‘take note’ of the election result, but a German government spokesman said the Spanish constitution would have to be respected, and called for reconciliation.