Spain could face early elections as Catalan secessionists reject budgets
Spanish President Pedro Sánchez will announce on Friday whether the country is headed for early general elections after the government’s proposed budget draft was rejected by parliament on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday the Unidos Podemos, PNV and PSOE parties made a last attempt to convince the Catalan separatists (ERC and PDeCAT) to withdraw their amendments and vote for the proposed budget plan.
Nevertheless, the draft was rejected with PP, Ciudadanos and the Catalans voting against the government. This means that Sánchez’s government could call an early general election for as soon as 28 April.
Parliament voted against the budget by 191 votes to 158 with one abstention.
Both ERC and PDeCAT assured that there would be no budgets if the government did not start negotiations on a legal independence referendum in Catalonia. The government stated that it could not accept the referendum and urged the Catalans to withdraw their request.
Sánchez recently claimed that the past referendum on 1 October 2017 was unconstitutional and points to polls showing that over half of Catalans do not want independence, although many do want greater autonomy.
A dozen of Catalan secessionists are currently on trial on charges of rebellion, sedition, civil disobedience and misappropriation of public money. This key factor also made the government’s relationship with the pro-independence Catalan parties more strained.
It is expected that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will wait a few days before announcing whether or not there are early elections. The decision must be taken "after deliberation of the Council of Ministers"on Friday.