Parties call for an end to political ‘paralysis’

With the future of Catalonia’s next president and government still up in the air, the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling People’s Party (PPC) on Monday urged the Catalan parliament president, Roger Torrent, to begin another round of talks with the country’s political parties in order to find an alternative candidate to the deposed president, Carles Puigdemont, who is still in Brussels. 

Torrent nominated Puigdemont as the only presidential candidate on January 22, after holding talks with all parliamentary groups. Yet, the PPC argues that swearing in Puigdemont “is not viable” due to his absence and it wants Torrent to select a different candidate, “whether backed by a majority in Parliament or not.” “The current situation of paralysis cannot go on indefinitely,” said PPC secretary general, Santi Rodríguez. 

The PPC demands for talks come after the unionist Ciutadans party (Cs) announced its intention to register an extraordinary session of parliament to break the stalemate. The Catalunya en Comú Podem party (CatECP), which is not for or against independence, has also called for such a session, although on Monday party spokeswoman, Elisenda Alamany, accused Cs of seeking headlines rather than showing “political responsibility.” “We argue for a plenary session to look into ways of breaking the stalemate in Catalonia,” said Alamany in differentiating her party’s suggestion.

Whatever, the motives behind it may be, the PSC Catalan socialist party on Monday gave its backing to an extraordinary plenary session, if it means it will “unblock” the situation, according to organization secretary, Salvador Illa. While Illa expressed some doubt over “the effectiveness” of a special parliamentary session, he said his party would not oppose any initiatives that might serve to resolve the “very harmful paralysis” in the country.

Presidency law amendment on agenda 

Meanwhile, the parliamentary bureau headed by Torrent has included on Tuesday’s agenda the amendment of the presidency law registered by Puigdemont’s candidacy, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat).The group put forward the amendment to bolster the legality of swearing in Puigdemont remotely last week. However, due to initial differences concerning the amendment between JxCat and pro-independence ally, ERC, the amendment was left off last week’s agenda.

With 70 MPs, the pro-independence parties have a majority in the Catalan chamber and, so far, their candidate continues to be Puigdemont. The unionist parties do not have enough seats to swear in an alternative candidate, but they could try to force a vote in order to set in motion the two-month deadline to call a new election, the countdown for which starts after the first investiture debate is held.