Opposition groups slam pro-independence parties over rift

“Ridiculous”, “sad” and “absurd” were some of the adjectives used by opposition parties in the Parliament to describe the row that erupted on Wednesday between the main pro-independence parties, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Esquerra Republicana (ERC).

The split between the two parties that make up the Catalan government came after the parliament bureau was unable to reach agreement on whether to go ahead with the suspension of six MPs being prosecuted by Spain’s Supreme Court.

The leader of the unionist Ciutadans (Cs) party, Inés Arrimadas, called the behavior of ERC and JxCat “ridiculous,” and parliament president Roger Torrent’s decision to adjourn the plenary session “intolerable.” Arrimadas demanded the session be resumed before the end of July.

As for the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling Socialist party, PSC, their leader, Miquel Iceta, described the decision to postpone the session as “sad,” calling it “dark day” for the Parliament, where he said there were too many voices that “feel more comfortable in conflict.”.

Referring to the disagreement about whether or not to include former Catalan president among the suspended MPs, Iceta went on to warn the pro-independence majority made up of the JxCat, ERC and CUP parties of becoming “hostage to the interests of Carles Puigdemont.”

As for the leader of the Catalan People’s Party, Xavier Garcia Albiol, he reacted to the rift and the postponement of the session calling it “absurd and completely unacceptable.” Yet, Albiol was also critical of PSC, who he accused of “breaking the unity of the constitutionalist parties,” by voting in favor of substituting the suspended MPs.

Finally, Xavier Domènech, the head of CatECP, which does not align with either the pro-independence or unionist camps, regretted the “disorientation” of JxCat and ERC. Yet, the CatECP leader also reserved criticism for the Supreme Court, which he accused of “skipping electoral law” by ordering the suspension of the MPs.