CUP could reconsider position on swearing in Sànchez

The agreement between Catalonia’s two main pro-independence parties -JxCat and ERC- to accept the former leading activist Jordi Sànchez as an alternative candidate for president shows some progress towards forming a new Catalan government. However, a couple of obstacles remain. One is the refusal of the other pro-independence party, the far-left CUP, to vote for Sànchez in the upcoming parliamentary session to swear in a new president. The pro-independence camp needs CUP’s votes to have a majority in the Catalan parliament.

Yet, a CUP spokeswoman on Tuesday said the party will look into reconvening its Political Council to reconsider its position on the investiture, as long as it receives a proposal from JxCat and ERC "to bring about the Republic." In the talks between the pro-independence parties on forming a new government, CUP’s priority has been to continue the process towards a Catalan state that was interrupted by the imposition of direct rule on Catalonia after the Catalan parliament made a declaration of independence at the end of October.

Nevertheless, the CUP spokeswoman warned that reaching an agreement before the investiture session called for Monday March 12 is “very difficult”, and she criticized the decision to convoke the session before it was clear whether swearing in Sànchez can even go ahead. The former head of the Catalan National Assembly is still being held in custody pending trial over his involvement in the bid for independence, and it is still not clear whether the Spanish courts will allow even him to attend the parliamentary session.