The newspaper Der Standard, one of the most important in Austria, has asked "why a heated autumn looms for Catalonia". The report is centred on yesterday's demonstration in Barcelona, attended by some 600,000 people according to the Urban Guard, when the independence movement "once again demonstrated its strength".
"Only a few weeks before the judgement from the Supreme Court in Madrid against twelve accused Catalan activists, expected for the end of September or the start of October, the independence movement on Wednesday afternoon once again demonstrated its strength," the journalist reports. "In the shape of a huge star with a kilometre-long tail, they filled several of Barcelona's main traffic arteries".
Warum Katalonien ein heißer Herbst droht: https://t.co/ORLswvfkzO
— DER STANDARD (@derStandardat) September 11, 2019
The article covers many of the key topics in current Spanish and Catalan politics: the trial and "the protests expected in light of the sentence", the separate trial faced by president Quim Torra, the disagreements over strategy between JxCat and ERC, and the fact that no candidate has yet been invested Spanish prime minister following the April general election.
On the subject of Pedro Sánchez's hopes to be installed as prime minister again, the newspaper suggests: "A to-be-expected hard judgment could make this more than difficult process even more complicated. While JxCat is publicising that it will vote against Sánchez, ERC wants to make the path for him to re-enter the government palace easier with its abstention. After a verdict, this would hardly be possible for the Catalans, without being considered traitors at home."