Ciutadans urges Rajoy to resign and call snap election

Ciutadans leader Albert Rivera spoke during the debate for the motion of no-confidence against Spanish president Mariano Rajoy, insisiting that he should “step down” and call a snap election before the final vote on Friday. This way, Rivera insisted, the current Spanish president could “allow an organized and dignified exit” for the legislature.

In his speech, Rivera urged elections in order for the Spanish people to “be able to decide their future.” He insisted that while he agrees on “the cessation of Rajoy” following his party’s conviction in a major corruption scandal, he could not support Socialist leader and candidate Pedro Sánchez “without there being elections” beforehand.

He also criticized Sánchez for “allying himself” with pro-independence politicians, who are set to support the motion. He warned that those who will lead the government would indeed be, along with Basque pro-independence forces, “Torra, Tardà […] and Puigdemont.”

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias criticized Rivera for the way he addressed ERC spokesperson Joan Tardà, accusing Ciutadans leader of “threatening” the pro-independence MP, and comparing Rivera’s speech to resembling one that a “fascist” might make.

After a pause, he proclaimed: “I want to address myself to those political parties that wanted for the Basque Country and Catalonia to be independent from Spain.” He continued, stating that those he spoke to had “said, sometimes, that Spain was the People’s Party and Ciutadans – it’s not true,” he proclaimed.

He continued by insisting that “there’s a new Spain, one that doesn’t believe in kings, there’s a new Spain that asks you for dialogue, together, to talk, to build a Spain where there’s room for a nation called Euskadi [the Basque Country] and a nation called ‘Catalunya.’” He added, “We are willing to build this brotherly and plurinational Spain with you.”

Iglesias reminded Sánchez of times immediately following the Franco dictatorship, warning him that “only by recognizing the Catalan government, a republican institution preceding the [Spanish] constitution, was it possible to integrate Spain.”

“Today is a day of hope”

Lucía Martín, new leader of the Catalan branch of Podemos in the Spanish parliament, took to the stand to reiterate her parliamentary group’s vote in favor of the motion of no-confidence against Rajoy. She accused the current government of “backing the censoring, the persecution of freedom of expression and jail for those who write, those who tweet, those who rap,” referring to recent cases of prosecuted and sentenced artists, mainly in Catalonia.

While the majority of her speech was in Spanish, she briefly switched over to Catalan to proclaim that “today is a day for hope, for those of us who never forget who we are, or why we are here.”

To Pedro Sánchez, she dictated what her party deemed as necessary for a new government, with an element she deemed as “essential,” which was “to start a process of de-escalation and dialogue with Catalonia.” “Catalans deserve,” she said, “a government that builds bridges.” She ultimately listed the times that the leader of PSOE urged for communication with Catalonia, and added that “this is what should guide” the actions of his government “related to Catalonia.” “The solutions must be political”, Martín said, “they cannot pass through courtrooms.”