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Pedro Sánchez sworn in as Spanish PM, amid right-wing protests

Pedro Sánchez has been sworn in again as Spain's Prime Minister after striking a deal to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists - a move that has angered the country's right.

Spain's Pedro Sanchez has once again been sworn in as Prime Minister.
Spain's Pedro Sanchez has once again been sworn in as Prime Minister. (Photo by Andres BALLESTEROS / POOL / AFP)

Spain’s Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez was sworn in Friday as prime minister for another term with the right vowing to keep up its protests against his decision to grant Catalan separatists an amnesty.

Sánchez, in office since 2018, took the oath before King Felipe VI at the Zarzuela Palace near Madrid, a day after he won the endorsement of a majority of lawmakers in Spain’s fragmented parliament to form a new minority coalition government with hard-left party Sumar.

His Socialists finished second in an inconclusive July general election but he reached deals with several smaller parties to back him in the parliamentary vote for another term, including Catalan and Basque separatists.

To win the support of two Catalan separatist parties, he agreed to grant an unpopular amnesty to hundreds of people facing legal action for their role in Catalonia’s separatist movement over the past decade.

That includes the wealthy northeastern region’s failed secession bid in 2017 that involved a violence-marred referendum that was banned by the courts and followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

Critics say the amnesty is a self-serving measure to allow Sánchez to remain in power and accuse him of trampling on the rule of law.

The amnesty bill  — which still must be approved by parliament — has sparked protests across Spain in recent weeks, with another scheduled for Saturday at noon (1100 GMT) in Madrid which top figures from the conservative Popular Party (PP) and far-right Vox have vowed to attend.

“The civic resistance is not going to give up,” PP secretary general Cuca Gamarra wrote on social network X, formerly Twitter.

Protests continue

Thousands have congregated each night for more than a week outside the Socialist party’s headquarters in Madrid in rallies organised by the far right against the amnesty. Some protests have turned violent.

“We will continue to support all mobilisations and all calls to oppose” this “government born from an unconstitutional pact”, said Vox leader Santiago Abascal, who has called the amnesty deal a “coup d’etat”.

In a sign of the tensions the amnesty has sparked, dozens of retired right-wing generals issued a manifesto on Friday calling on “those responsible for defending the constitutional order” to “remove the prime minister” and “call” new elections.

The PP won most seats in the July election but fell short of a majority and its leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo was unable to get support from other parties to win his investiture vote in September.

Sánchez, who has made a career out of political gambles, has defended the amnesty, arguing it was constitutional and needed to “heal the wounds” opened by Catalonia’s independence push.

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POLITICS

The plan for Catalonia to handle its own finances separately from Spain

Catalan separatists are pushing for 'financiación singular' to gain greater fiscal autonomy from the Spanish state, but the proposals are tied up with politics at the national level.

The plan for Catalonia to handle its own finances separately from Spain

The recent regional elections in Catalonia in May were hailed by political pundits as the end of the procés and turning the page on the Catalan question. The evidence for this was that separatist parties lost their majority in the regional legislature for the first time in over a decade and that the Socialists (PSOE) won the most votes overall.

However, since then things have been far from simple. The PSOE candidate, Salvador Illa, is yet to secure an investiture vote and the political horse trading is ongoing with ramifications for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s fragile majority at the national level.

The controversial amnesty law pushed by Sánchez’s government then got clogged up in the courts, despite being approved in the Congress, and Catalan separatist parties managed to cling onto the role of speaker in the regional parliament. Catalan lawmakers elected Josep Rull, a member of the hardline separatist Junts per Catalunya, which is led by exiled former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.

READ ALSO: Separatists retain speaker in new Catalan parliament

The important context to understand here is that the Sánchez government is dependent on separatist parties, including Junts and the more moderate Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC). After inconclusive general election results last summer, Sánchez essentially made a deal with the Catalans in exchange for their votes to maintain his position in La Moncloa.

Catalan finances and national politics

Now separatist parties, particularly ERC, are leveraging this support in order to gain concessions from the national government. The main way they’re doing this is through a demand for financiación singular — ‘singular financing’. That is to say, how Catalonia raises and uses taxes, and whether or not it should be allowed greater fiscal autonomy closer to something like the Basque model.

ERC secretary general Marta Rovira has said in the Spanish press that greater fiscal autonomy “is the minimum that can be demanded,” and alluded to the conditionality of their support for Sánchez: “The Socialists must know that if Pedro Sánchez is not able to move on the singular financing… it will be very difficult for ERC to support him. Salvador Illa must bear this in mind.”

la financiación ‘singular’

But what is singular financing? Former president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, described the plan as “full fiscal sovereignty” in the election campaign, and essentially what the ERC is proposing is a bespoke fiscal arrangement for Catalonia that allows the Generalitat to collect (and keep) more of its taxes.

This would be a step, albeit financial rather than constitutional, towards greater regional autonomy for Catalonia and likely viewed as a political victory for separatists.

For critics of Sánchez, it would be more evidence of his capitulation to Catalans.

Singular finance is an idea inspired by the so-called “Basque quota”. This is basically a fiscal arrangement that allows the Basque government control of most of its taxes but means it must also contribute a set ‘quota’ to the Spanish government.

READ ALSO: Spain’s contested Catalan amnesty bill comes into force

In Catalonia, the long-term aim would be something similar: for the Generalitat to collect all (or more than it currently does, at least) of the taxes paid in Catalonia and then transfer to the Spanish state an agreed portion of that.

In terms of cash, this would mean that the Generalitat would collect billions more in tax (some estimates put it as high as €52 billion overall) and more than double the €25.6 billion it received in 2021 under the current model.

Proponents of the singular finance model also suggest that giving the Generalitat greater fiscal autonomy would do something to redress the so-called ‘Catalan deficit’, the difference between what the Catalan economy contributes to the Spanish state coffers and what it receives in return investment. Generalitat estimates for 2021 put this figure at over €20 billion in 2021.

Therefore, the demand is not only political but economic. The ERC claims that changing the fiscal model would do something to resolve what it calls the “chronic underfunding” of the region.

Negotiations for a singular financing model, which will be tied up in the investiture negotiations for Illa, which are themselves tied up in the fragile arrangement at the national level, will likely continue for many weeks.

If no candidate has won an investiture vote in the regional parliament by August 25th, further elections will be called.

READ ALSO: Which Catalans want independence from Spain?

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