BARCELONA: Catalonia will push the Spanish government for a new agreement on holding a binding referendum on the region’s potential independence that would be recognised both by Spain and the international community, its separatist leader said on Tuesday.

The Spanish government, however, rejected the proposal. “They have those maximalist aspirations, which are absolutely not shared by the government,” spokesperson Isabel Rodriguez told reporters. But both governments would keep talking to “normalise” their relationship, she said.

The so-called “clarity agreement” proposal comes shortly before the fifth anniversary of Catalonia’s unauthorised independence referendum and at a critical time for its separatist movement, which is marred by divisions between moderates and radicals that have threatened to fracture the coalition government.

Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has favoured dialogue with Catalonia to rebuild relations after a chaotic unilateral bid for independence in 2017 plunged Spain into its worst political crisis in years.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2022