Amid growing public and political pressure, the country’s caretaker prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, met the Ciudadanos leader, Albert Rivera, on Thursday morning to hammer out a deal. However, the PSOE leader, Pedro Sánchez, has repeatedly ruled out doing anything that would facilitate Rajoy’s return to power. Speaking after the meeting, Rivera said Rajoy had met the conditions needed to win Ciudadanos’s backing. “I’ve asked two things of Mr Rajoy: first, that he sign the anti-corruption pact – and he’s agreed to,” said Rivera. Rajoy called on the socialist leader to drop his opposition and “co-operate so that we can have a government”.

Source: The Guardian August 18, 2016 15:25 UTC