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Catalan Separatists See Potential to Back Sanchez Government

Sanchez’s Socialists emerged as the biggest party in general elections held last month but fell short of the majority.

Catalan Separatists See Potential to Back Sanchez Government
Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s prime minister, left, and his wife, Maria Begona Gomez Fernandez. (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana wants to be optimistic that its conditions will be met to support Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s bid to stay in office, according to a person familiar with its deliberations.

Esquerra is waiting to hear the response from the Spanish government’s lawyers to a decision on Thursday by Europe’s top court that its jailed leader Oriol Junqueras had political immunity after being elected as a member of the European Parliament in May.

The party thinks it will be straightforward for the lawyers to give an opinion that’s to its liking because it would involve endorsing the European court’s decision, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations aren’t public. A spokeswoman for Sanchez’s Socialists wasn’t immediately available for comment when contacted by phone on Sunday and a government spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on the Socialists’ talks with Esquerra.

Sanchez’s Socialists emerged as the biggest party in general elections held last month but fell short of the majority they needed to form a government on their own. Sanchez immediately sealed a pact with the anti-austerity platform Podemos, but also needs the support of Esquerra’s 13 deputies to be able to win parliamentary approval to remain as prime minister.

Esquerra halted talks with the Socialists on Thursday after Europe’s top court ruled that Junqueras had political immunity after being elected as a member of the European Parliament in May. Junqueras was jailed in October for his part in an illegal bid by the Catalan government of the day to split from Spain in 2017.

Pere Aragones, Esquerra’s national coordinator, said the party is awaiting the government lawyer’s response before making a decision. “We’re waiting to hear what the state lawyer says,” Aragones told the Catalan TV station TV3 in an interview aired Sunday. “A mechanism of dialogue is not viable if a repressive dynamic is maintained.”

El Pais and other newspapers reported on Sunday that in the event that government lawyers do give an opinion favorable to Esquerra, a vote to install Sanchez as prime minister again could take place by Jan. 5. The timing is still not clear and what’s most important is that the government’s lawyers give an adequate response, the person said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, James Amott

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