A major crisis in Spain? The Catalans are setting conditions, the tension is growing

The Catalan Republican Left (ERC), the party of regional Prime Minister Pere Aragons, wrote a letter on Monday to the centre-right Together for Catalonia (JxCAT) party, led by former exiled Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont.
In the letter, the ERC proposes a joint demand for a referendum on the independence of Catalonia, amnesty for the convicted participants of the banned referendum from 2017, and the introduction of the Catalan language in the European Parliament as one of the official languages.
These would be the conditions for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Snchez to remain in power in Spain for another four years.
The right bloc of parties got 172, and the left bloc led by Snchez 171 MPs in the parliamentary elections in Spain held a week ago. To form the Spanish government, 176 representatives are needed in the 350-seat parliament, which no bloc can reach. Seven MPs from Puigdemont's JxCAT party can win. ERC has another seven MPs, included the leftist bloc inclined to Snchez.
"In a very complicated scenario, in order to stop the Spanish right, a good part of Catalan society has decided to support obedience to the Spanish parties," the ERC said in a letter published by the Catalan newspaper Ara on Monday.
"The elections have given the independence movement a new opportunity: the fourteen Catalan deputies who stand for independence are necessary for the governance of the country," added the letter signed by Oriol Junkeras, along with Catalan Prime Minister Aragones.
He was sentenced to prison for organizing a referendum with Puigdemont a little less than six years ago. The signatories point out that Sanchez's ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) has no other alternative but to rely on the support of the two Catalan...