Spanish media have reported that Puigdemont’s PdeCat party and its former government ally, the far-left ERC party, were planning to abandon a call for Catalonia to break away from Spain “unilaterally” in their programmes for a December 21 regional election. It seems like a good route to work on,” PdeCat party coordinator Marta Pascal said in an interview with Cadena Ser news radio when asked about the reports. The ERC has also said that the separatist movement needs to win more support for its cause, even though it takes a harder line on independence than the PdeCat party. We want this to be negotiated,” the ERC’s spokesman in the Catalan parliament, Roger Torrent, told AFP, adding that the regional election next month would effectively be like another “referendum”. “This is why we urge the Spanish government to accept the results,” he said.

Source: The Guardian November 23, 2017 13:07 UTC