Rift between Spain's main parties over Catalan crisis
PP leader fails to retract accusation that Spanish president was part of "coup" in Catalonia and urges breaking off relations with pro-independence leaders
The leader of the People's Party (PP), Pablo Casado, on Thursday responded to the decision by Spain's Socialist president, Pedro Sánchez, to cut off all relations with the conservative opposition party after Casado accused Sánchez of participating in a "coup d'etat" in Catalonia.
The PP leader urged Sánchez to instead cut links with the former and current Catalan presidents, Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra, and Basque leader, Arnaldo Otegi. Sánchez's minority government partly depends on the votes of Catalan and Basque nationalist parties.
Sánchez broke off all relations with the PP on Wednesday after Casado accused him in the Spanish parliament on Wednesday of participating in the "coup d'etat" in Catalonia, in reference to last year's push for independence. Sánchez took the decision after Casado failed to retract his accusation.
Spanish VP repeats call for apology
After Spanish government sources on Wednesday evening confirmed that the relationship with Casado's party was broken, on Thursday morning Sánchez's number two in the cabinet, vice president, Carmen Calvo, again called on the PP head to apologize.
"People should demand Casado apologize. He should say today that he [Sánchez] is not a rebel," said Calvo on Spanish radio, who added that what took place in Catalonia a year ago was not a coup d'etat, but rather "a coup against the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy."
Asked if the government will continue to deal with the PP as part of Spain's financing negotiations, the vice president said they could not turn their backs on all 350 Congress members, and that should the budget not pass then there are other ways of ensuring the country continues to function.