• Pablo Iglesias tells PSOE, Ciudadanos their accord is ‘dead in the water’
• Podemos insists on Catalonia’s ‘right to decide’ on independence from Spain
Negotiators for Spain’s Socialist party (PSOE) sat down late Thursday afternoon with counterparts from the centre-right Ciudadanos and anti-austerity Podemos parties to try to hammer out a coalition government agreement, just one day after a heated exchange in Congress between Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias and Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera appeared to all but scuttle any real chance for a successful outcome to the talks.
Engineered by PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez as part of a second attempt since the Dec. 20th general election to secure enough votes in Congress to become Spain’s next president, the days leading up to the tri-party talks were marked by a hardening of position by Ciudadanos on the right, hints at tepid economic policy concessions from Podemos on the left and the dubiously timed leak through conservative Spanish media outlets of documents that purport to show illegal financing of Podemos by former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
At the 2 1/2-hour meeting Thursday, Podemos negotiators insisted the PSOE-Ciudadanos accord signed last month was a non-starter for negotiations, then asked Ciudadanos to abstain in voting to enable a PSOE-Podemos coalition government and presented its own wish list of 20 proposals (see: PDF) — backpedaling slightly from Podemos demands for increased government spending, while insisting on Podemos cabinet seats in a new government and on Catalonia’s “right to decide” on independence from Spain through a referendum, the terms of which would be decided at a later date.
PSOE and Ciudadanos said in separate press conferences after the meeting that they would study the Podemos proposals but would not abandon their joint accord, with Socialist spokesperson Antonio Hernando acknowledging that Podemos’ stance has now made it “very difficult to reach an agreement.” Hours later, Ciudadanos’ Rivera used Twitter to sharply criticize Podemos, accusing the party of trying to “dynamite” the process, while seeking to form its own coalition with the PSOE “and with support from separatists.”
► Read More in Spanish at El País and El Mundo …
► Read More in English at Bloomberg and Reuters …
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