MADRID – Spain’s governing Socialists must now court the support of fractious minor parties to pass legislation to tackle the economic crisis after losing the backing of Basque nationalists in parliament.
Until now, prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been able to bank on the support of the Basques to pass legislation pretty much unchanged, despite his lack of a parliamentary majority.
But the Basque nationalists have started voting against all government-sponsored bills since the Socialists came out on top in elections for the regional Basque parliament on March 1st. Any chance of a reconciliation vanished on Thursday, when the Socialists clinched a deal to take control of the Basque government from the nationalists.
Also on Thursday, the Socialists were forced to compromise with a Catalan party to obtain support for a Bill to allow struggling companies to postpone social security payments. But with the economy in deep recession and joblessness hurtling towards four million, the prospect of having to negotiate economic legislation with parties with specific regional interests is an uncomfortable one.
The price for the support of Catalonia’s Convergencia i Unio (CiU) for Thursday’s social security measure is likely to be an amendment to extend the benefit to self-employed workers.
The Catalan party is also likely to seek economic favours for Catalonia as well as resist more interventionist, high-spending policies, according to Juan Carlos Rodriguez of consultancy Analistas Socio-Politicos. “The Socialists are going to have to make some changes to please the Catalan nationalists, who aren’t so social democratic as they are,” he said.
The government has already passed a package of €70 billion in fiscal stimulus and aid to the banking sector. But further crisis measures would probably need the support of CiU unless they are backed by the opposition Popular Party – which wants the government to shift its focus to tax cuts.
Mr Zapatero told foreign newspapers on Thursday that if the current stimulus programmes had not begun to revive the economy within a few months, he would boost spending on green energy and biotechnology. These could now need Catalan approval.
“We’re not going to give blanket support to the Socialist government, it wouldn’t make any sense,” CiU’s leader in the national parliament, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, told Telecinco television.
“We’ll do our bit to help respond to the crisis,” he said.
He has also said his party will oppose the 2010 budget bill when it is debated towards the end of the year. – (Reuters)