Catalan Separatists Want to Negotiate With Sanchez as Equals

(Bloomberg) -- The Catalan separatist party set acting Spanish prime minister Sanchez a condition to begin talks to support him: we negotiate as equals.

The ERC will hold meetings with Sanchez’s Socialists as soon as this week to agree on a formal process for talks, said party spokesman Gabriel Rufian at a news conference in the Spanish parliament. Meetings would be “between governments,” said Rufian.

“We will use the force of our 13 deputies to try to resolve a conflict that is about a country,” he said.

Sanchez is courting the party because the support of its deputies could be key to his ability to form a central government after his Socialists won the most parliamentary seats but fell well short of a majority in elections held on Nov. 10.

Immediately after the ballot, Sanchez sealed a pact with the anti-austerity Podemos party though he still needs additional support to stay on as prime minister. As contacts with the separatists start, Sanchez will have to weigh how any concessions to their demands might play with public opinion -- until now he has said he’s ready to negotiate, within the scope of the Spanish constitution.

ERC members on Monday overwhelmingly backed a motion rejecting talks with the Socialists unless they commit to a process in which the party would press its claims for Catalan self-determination. Members also want an amnesty for leaders jailed following a failed attempt to illegally declare independence in 2017. ERC’s full name is Esquerra Republica de Catalunya.

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, Caroline Alexander

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