Pro-independence parties reach agreement; CUP yet to decide

The two main pro-independence parties in Catalonia have reached a new deal to form a government, which could come into force if the jailed activist Jordi Sànchez is sworn in as president next week—and that could largely depend on whether this fresh agreement pleases far-left CUP and its four MPs.

The document, which has already been sent to the far-left group, puts forward a constitutional process that will eventually lead to the drafting of a document—although it is not specified whether it will be a Constitution for an independent Catalonia.

CUP rejected Sànchez

 

Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana have only a few days left to convince CUP before Sànchez’s investiture debate takes place next Monday. Last weekend, the far-left party rejected a previous deal  to elect Sànchez, alleging that the two major pro-independence parties groups failed to advance the political roadmap that led to last October’s referendum and declaration of independence.   

The new document draws on a previous agreement to reelect Carles Puigdemont as president on January 30, which got CUP’s green light. Yet, the Spanish constitutional court blocked Puigdemont’s election from Brussels, requiring him to return and face criminal charges for the independence bid.

Puigdemont stepped aside and proposed Sànchez as his successor, but that also posed new challenges: the Spanish Supreme Court is to decide in the following days whether to grant his petition to be released or not.