• Ciudadanos leader says PP’s Rajoy wanted ‘grand coalition’ to avoid reforms
• Centre-right leader rejects Podemos bid to curtail judiciary, press freedoms
In the run-up to second-round general elections on 26th June (26-J), the leader of Spain’s Ciudadanos party, Albert Rivera, continues to blame the failure of Spain’s political parties to form a government following 20th December (20-D) general elections on the intransigent positions of acting-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the conservative Partido Popular (PP) and Pablo Iglesias, leader of the country’s anti-austerity party, Podemos.
In an interview published Monday with Barcelona-based national daily El Periódico, the leader of the 10-year-old centre-right party says that the government will again be deadlocked after the 26-J elections unless the PP and the leading opposition Socialist party (PSOE) come to the realization that they must reach some form of agreement that will enable government to move forward with much-needed electoral reforms and renovation of the country’s political system.
Rivera blamed both the PP and Podemos for having failed to compromise to reach a reformist consensus following the 20-D elections. The PP’s Rajoy was holding out for a “grand coalition that was everything except reformist … a grand coalition to maintain what is dysfunctional and to cover up corruption,” and while agreement with Podemos on reforming the country’s electoral system may have been possible, Rivera said Ciudadanos could not subscribe to specific Podemos proposals that included curtailing the independence of Spain’s judiciary and the country’s print and broadcast media.
► Read the Full Interview in Spanish at El Periódico …
► ► CLICK ABOVE TO WATCH VIDEO EXCERPTS FROM INTERVIEW ► ►
