The Madrid-born Socialist leader is offering constitutional reform that would give Catalonia increased autonomy, but not independence. “The secessionists are going to meet the wall of Spain’s rule of law if they go back to the unilateral path (to independence),” he said.
The appointment last week of hard-line independence activist Quim Torra as Catalan regional president makes it even less likely that the crisis is going to cool off in the short term. At the same time, supporters of Spanish unity have discovered a propaganda goldmine in Torra’s anti-Spanish writings and tweets. [...]
The Socialists are currently the second-biggest party in parliament after Rajoy’s conservatives, with the far-left Podemos in third place and Ciudadanos fourth. But recent polls of voter intentions put Ciudadanos either in the lead or second while the PSOE is most often ranked third after Rajoy’s party and Rivera’s. [...]
While Ciudadanos has poached voters from the PP and the PSOE, it is a more natural fit for disenchanted conservatives than leftists. Sánchez argued that the “fracture” on the right, in the context of a more fragmented political scenario where votes are split four ways rather than the traditional two-way PP-PSOE rivalry, means he is in a good position to win the next national election.
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