José Luís Ábalos, Spanish economic development minister and organizational secretary for the governing Socialists (PSOE), has stated today that his party would prefer to govern with Ciudadanos (Cs) than with the Catalan pro-independence parties. In an interview with digital daily El Español, the minister said that it was preferable to make a deal with a partner that did not question the unity of Spain.
At the same time, Ábalos recalled that from the PSOE there have been calls to reach an agreement with the right-wing Cs, led by Albert Rivera, but that unfortunately this has not been achieved. Moreover, in relation to the independence parties, the minister stated that the Socialists do not seek their support.
"We don't propose any cordon sanitaire"
Asked whether the Socialists will apply a cordon sanitaire to pro-independence groups, the development minister responded with a negative: the PSOE will not propose any kind of cordon to any party, except if some group "represents a threat to democracy".
In the same vein, Ábalos also said that in forming a governing majority, the PSOE will not seek any voting support that ties them down - in reference to the pro-independence parties - although he also acknowledged that he didn't know in practice how to avoid such a vote.
A poll that appeared today in the El País newspaper predicted that the PSOE would win the Spanish general election on April 28th, but to obtain a parliamentary majority it would have to repeat its current agreement with the left-wing Podemos and the Catalan and Basque parties, or else make a deal with Cs. According to the poll, a hypothetical right-wing coalition involving Cs, the Popular Party and Vox will not win sufficient support to form a government.