SEPARATISTS REGAIN BARCELONA AS GRAFT PUSHES SPAIN TO THE LEFT
MADRID— Nationalists regained control of Catalonia’s government and renewed its bid for independence as Spain installed a new Socialist prime minister.
The new Catalan Cabinet was inducted on Saturday, the same day Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez took his oath before King Felipe VI after parliament ousted conservative Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.
The coincidence of the central and regional governments taking power at the same time could open a new chapter in their relations.
Pushing ‘Llibertat’
“This government is committed to moving towards an independent state in the form of a republic,” Catalonia’s new leader Quim Torra said after the Cabinet’s induction ceremony in which separatists shouted “Llibertat! Llibertat!” (Freedom!).
“President Pedro Sanchez let’s talk, let’s deal with this question, let’s take risks, you and us. We need to sit around the same table and negotiate, government to government.”
But it is unlikely that Sanchez would be more sympathetic to the Catalonian cause because he had opposed the region’s independence bid when the matter came to a head last year.
Catalan nationalists were part of the unlikely alliance of mainstream Socialists, hard-leftists and Catalan and Basque nationalists that ousted Rajoy—the first time a sitting premier was ousted in four decades.
Smallest majority
But Sanchez’s majority is the smallest for a Spanish government since the return to democracy following Francisco Fran- co’s death in 1975, making it unclear how long his administration can last.
Zarzuela induction
Sanchez took the oath of office before King Felipe VI at Zarzuela Palace near Madrid on Saturday, the first prime minister to take the oath without a Bible and crucifix.
Sanchez had always been critical of Rajoy in the past, famously lashing out at Rajoy in a televised debate in 2015: “The head of the government, Mr. Rajoy, has to be a decent person, and you are not.”
He also refused to consider a coalition led by Rajoy several times in the past.
Rajoy also does not have much love for Sanchez, accusing Sanchez on Thursday of “opportunism at the service of personal ambition.”
El Mundo newspaper branded Sanchez a “leader devoured by ambition.”