Gabriel Rufián, deputy for the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) in the Spanish congress, has toughened his party's conditions for supporting the Spanish Socialists' motion of no-confidence in the Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy. Addressing Pedro Sánchez, leader of the PSOE party which has proposed the motion, Rufián said: "If he wants ERC's votes for a no-confidence motion, then let him go to Estremera prison and ask the party's president for them, from the other side of the glass," he said. Rufián's remark thus poured cold water on the possibility that Junqueras' party will vote to support the no-confidence motion, which in Madrid political circles had been taken for granted.
On Friday, ERC's spokesperson in the Spanish congress, Joan Tardà, guaranteed his group's support for the PSOE motion against the Spanish PM. However, he demanded that Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez “correct” and “rectify” certain attitudes towards the pro-independence parties, such as his insults to new Catalan president Quim Torra.