The Socialists are calm and insist that the PSOE "always complies with the agreements" it reaches with other political parties. That is how the governing Spanish party's Congressional spokesperson, Patxi López, responded this Wednesday, after Carles Puigdemont had warned that Together for Catalonia (Junts) could "overthrow" the Pedro Sánchez premiership through a motion of no-confidence with the People's Party (PP). "We always comply with accords; we have a majority, the one that formed this government, and we will fulfill the agreements we signed in order to have this government", said the Basque Socialist politician in statements to the lower house.
According to the media Politico, the Catalan president in exile held an informal conversation this Tuesday evening with the leader of the European PP, Manfred Weber, assuring him that Junts could bring down the Sánchez executive if the Socialists fail to comply with their agreements with the pro-independence parties. "We could vote with the PP to throw out the budget or over an resolution on Israel, where our positions are actually more aligned" with that of the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said Puigdemont during a ceremony organized this Tuesday by the European political news provider.
But were it to come to this point, Puigdemont would put present some initial conditions to the PP: that they stop treating the Catalan president in exile as a "terrorist", an adjective that has been used a lot lately against the Junts leader; especially after the major judicial offensive carried out by judge Manuel García-Castellón against Puigdemont and Marta Rovira. Another condition would be that the candidate to replace Sánchez in the Moncloa palace would not be Alberto Núñez Feijóo, but rather an independent.
Feijóo closes the door
But this Wednesday, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has already moved to close this door. "I won't accept Puigdemont making me prime minister", he pointed out. He also confirmed once again that if he is not Spanish PM right now, it is because he did not want to accept the demands of Junts, which that party ended up agreeing on with the PSOE.
Feijóo criticized the "democratic anomaly" that is taking place in Spain through the "boycott of the head of state [king Felipe VI] by the government's partners and, consequently, a boycott of coexistence and democratic institutions". "I don't know of any European country where the prime minister has as supporters those who do not respect the institutions, who do not respect the legitimacy of the constitutional monarchy and, consequently, who are absolutely against the Constitution", he emphasized. In addition, he stated that "Sánchez's partners" are not complying with their work obligations. "I suppose that any citizen of our country who does not go to work and does not certify a medical leave, must have their pay docked", he said.