Spain鈥檚 April 28 general election will be 鈥渆xistential鈥 for the Spanish state, according to outgoing Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) foreign minister Josep Borrell 鈥 the scourge of the Catalan sovereignty movement. It will be a 鈥渞eferendum on the secessionist menace鈥, according to People鈥檚 Party (PP) opposition leader Pablo Casado.
Basque Country
At the June 8 ceremonial handing over of portfolio briefcases from outgoing conservative People鈥檚 Party (PP) ministers to their incoming Spanish Socialist Workers鈥 Party (PSOE) replacements, the contrasts were dramatic.
A bunch of reactionary lifetime political operators and religious obscurantists were replaced by what new Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez boasted was the 鈥減rogressive鈥, 鈥渇eminist鈥 and 鈥淓uropeanist鈥 alternative.
Catalonia鈥檚 regional government has declared it will hold a referendum on October 1 over whether it should become independent from Spain. In response, Spain鈥檚 conservative People鈥檚 Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed that the 鈥渦nconstitutional鈥 referendum will not take place, setting the scene for the biggest crisis in the Spanish state since the 1978 transition from the Franco dictatorship.
An estimated 33,000 people marched through the Basque city of Donostia on January 17 to protest ongoing Spanish state repression against civil rights activists and lawyers in the Basque Country.
Marching under a large banner reading 鈥淗uman Rights, Resolution, Peace鈥, the demonstration included members of the Basque pro-independence left coalition EH Bildu, trade unions and supporters of Basque political prisoners.