PP tells Mas to break with ERC in turn for ease in austerity
Conervatives aiming to drive wedge between nationalist bloc in Catalan parliament
The Popular Party (PP) on Thursday told Catalonia’s regional premier, Artur Mas, that he must break his parliamentary pact with the Catalan Republic Left (ERC) if he wants flexibility in meeting the region’s deficit goals or an improved financing from the central government.
The call came from the head of the Catalan PP, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho, who made the challenge after it emerged that Mas met privately earlier in the week with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to discuss these and other issues.
“Mas must choose between a pro-independence agenda or a constructive one to help pull Catalonia from its current economic crisis,” she said during a news conference. “He should stop wading between two big bodies of water.”
PP sources said that the idea is to force Mas to break with the pro-nationalist ERC.
