Have a government thats up to the socialists teamed up with a far left party but in a fragmented Political Landscape can it solve the countrys many challenges this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program im Adrian Finnegan just a few months ago spains acting Prime MinisterPedro Sanchez refused to form a government with the put damus Party Sanchez said he would have trouble sleeping at night if there were a day most ministers in his government but hes now performed a political u. Turn and agreed to partner the Hard Left Party to form the countrys 1st Coalition Cabinet in modern times the breakthrough comes out of sanchez emerged as the weakened winner of sundays general election spains Ruling Socialist Party once again fell short of the majority while the far right volks party became the 3rd most powerful Political Force the preliminary Coalition Deal could put an end to the political deadlock that followed aprils inconclusive election but the 2 parties will still need the support of smaller parties in parliament lets hear what sanchez had to say that elise is one accord about what the one this is an agreement for 4 years it is a Term Agreement the new government will be based on cohesion loyalty government solidarity and the will to put forward the most ideal candidates to carry out the different responsibilities in the government of course this agreement is created with the goal to be open to other Political Parties that make a stable majority in parliament viable the leader of the Pajamas Party said the agreement has become a historical necessity. But the little scientists. We have reached a pretty agreement that you already know of to form a Progressive Coalition government in spain a Progressive Coalition government that combines the experience of the p. S. O. It with the courage of. A government that works for dialogue to confront the territorial crisis and for social justice as the best vaccine against the extreme right. Well you did put a most is a far Left Political Party founded in 2014 by the political scientists public as yes it emerged in the aftermath of spains financial crisis of 2008 at the end 15 protests against what it called inequality and corruption it says hes against austerity measures and supports policies that focus on investing in Public Services and protecting social rights his party calls for financial reform that would include raising taxes on corporations and wealthy people and increasing the minimum wage. Lets bring in our guests for todays discussion from madrid were joined by miguel and who is a political commentator and contributor to the New York Times and the guardian from barcelona on the lead the cow see a Professor Emeritus of pompei a fabbri universities an author and specialist on cattle and separatism and nationalism and from newcastle were joined by carlos conde its a lot of us senior lecturer at Northumbria University college is also an author and specialist on spanish and latin American History gentlemen welcome to you or miguel lets start with you start with you rather is this Coalition Agreement a done deal or just an agreement in principle at the moment. Of the moment is an agreement in principle though it signals very clearly that there will be an agreement in the making and that this time it will be much easier to form a leftist coalition if only because the 2 main parties involved the socialists and the far left 5 people there must have no other how not all the solution they had their Event Results in the india action last sunday and this is the only way forward for them of course they still have to convince at least one of the catalan nationalist parties to support them even if it is passively to an abstention but i think that is going to be perhaps not easy but the scientific civil or ek how will these 2 parties govern when they dont have a majority even when you combine the 2 together. With difficulty they can get the you have after a series of parties a very fragmented. Situation in parliament theres no desire for a grand Coalition German style they want the scene is of. Italian Style Coalition which is new in spain and my suspicion is that if they put forward the budget which is the major pending short term question spain has been on a repeat budget for 3 years it might be possible for them to garner passive support from the right and the left opposition again from the national right if they if they get the budget through and. They could see a way forward but once theyre there into the day to day business of governing the country who will they be relying on for support in parliament. They need they need something thats extremely difficult the support they would presumably have a single deputy parties the 2 options the Citizens Party which just had a total shambles in the elections and the Republican Left Party which is an independent this party which could or could not have an approximation but what i see is if the if the budgetary question is put forth the Catalan Government needs the money desperately as do conservative and socialist government regional governments throughout spain come to sell this could be pulled off commissar i see it more than that very Unlikely Congress i see you nodding in agreement. It yeah absolutely i mean its going to be a very very difficult way forward for but there are signs of the incumbent socialist party Prime Minister with their dick up at the least the partners him i dont really see how they are going to be able to nurture these really pretty carriers ballance that they would need the north of there are to just gain a majority of one. They are going to need the participation of of the least another 5 parties one of those small parties by the way that will exist in a building about the parts of spain that are become in that are becoming endeared parts of central spain in particular in their interests are actually the opposite of the interests of for instance theyve got the republican left its going to be very difficult to assemble a work in my area because a lot of those interests are incompatible i also see some difficulty within the socialist party itself i dont see how the current economy minister now youre going to be in your is going to be able to coexist with up what then shall base president like probably less yes and on tick up at least at the put this in the context being that was part of the of the him. Of of the European Union entity that sort of imposed austerity on southern countries and how is that going to coexist within the same government i dont think is going to be possible. Because im sorry you talked about Petro Sanchez the incumbent if this if this Coalition Gets through the investiture vote in parliament it is Petro Sanchez guaranteed the premiership could could we be looking at another leader. I think that what better time to start trying to avoid that with this very fast agreement is precisely the internal challenge might be faced. Otherwise arson breaker mentioned earlier their Election Results have been pretty bad what they would expect then was a stronger my youre ready for the social democrats they didnt get that in fact they lost. 3 of their own base and. Really the repetition of the election has well and truly backfired on the lets remember he was already started the ones from his position by the socialist party itself the potential coalition with by then was and the potential partnership with the republican lets look at the lonia with other nationalist parties is quite unpopular or most of the socialists for instance in on the wealthy or or the elements or that is this partnership is in my view he can they come forward in order to make sure that those questions are and ask of either by those answers or probably less yes. If if this government is beset by infighting it its just not effective in the long run is there a danger that it could collapse and what happens if it does. It certainly could collapse of the amount of forces that have to be brought together and very disparate and not at all comfortable forces as cutlasses said. Make it. To have a very in the best of cases a very short term future what gives it life what gives it air is the fact that nobody wants 3rd elections in the foreseeable future at least. As long as 2019 and early 2020 go so that is the only backing it really has got a lot said the Election Results were particularly chastising to the socialists and to them as they both socialist gambled on gaining a good deal they lost they did not gain they lost 3 deputies and for the most survived more than some expected but it did not really go forward and sell and you have as a unit as a 2nd unifying element a very strong right wing party surge which is vox which is. Which has jumped to being a european style anti immigration quote unquote populist party. Will come to to box in just a moment 1st lets just finished our discussion around the the discoloration thats being formed here and how many cabinet seats within the government do you see put imus taking what ministries is it likely to take charge of. Well this is the key question we dont really know yet because these preagreement is pretty begun the only thing we know for sure is that the public less is the leader of for them as will be our Vice President this is i think of the the sort of politics you see inside of them and for them as has become a party with a very very powerful leader a charismatic leave the. Internal democracy has really gone out of the window so this is the most important thing that he will be the Vice President but the other by surprise minute Prime Minister in the in the english parlance. Its crucial how many seats they will have because it could go 2 different ways it could be option a only for 5 ministries are given 2 for their most dot i think would be what those scientists the socialist leader is aiming at because that would give him an edge for them most will suffer the the destiny of so many junior partners seeing coalitions they will be swallowed up the next election by the socialists and the option b. Would be that for them most is more forceful in the negotiation gets the upper hand and then gets more ministries done some important ministers say for example something to do with with Labor Ministry all for example even taxes or some sort of thing of that sort then its problematic because theres going to be a lot of clashes within the cabinet as has been the case to the the economy minister. Is very much unorthodox a product of brussels but also does the danger that it would be the socialists who would be swallowed by viper that most of the next election so this is crucial but we dont really know yet how these trying to find out. Right at the beginning of our discussion to go you talked about priorities priority number one for this government being the budgets. And the the other major issues that face the country once they get down to the business of governing catalonia and the economy do the 2 parties see eye to eye no not at all. The socialists have been obvious a strategic lumbee was the reality is that a large majority of the voters i would say almost a tautology of the voters of the socialist outside catalonia and many in catalonia opposed catalan in the pendants. In certain areas of hispanic particular they are they are very sometimes even sent a fabric to was the consequence it has to be admitted but apart from that many seem to resent the Movement Towards independence in catalonia that for the socialist voters the leave the senate especially by their stance has been plain balancing acts trying to balance out he approaches to the council and nationalists and on the other hand its fine to sound tough to his constituency for example just a few days before the election he was saying that he would ban by law all referendums of independence of course he now isnt he now needs the support of the council and nationalists he will have to swallow his words so. That is the socialist asked for for them once they are in favor of selfdetermination they want a referendum independence they have very close connections connection with the with the council and bring dependence parties so different. To what extent will its handling of the catalonia issue define this government do you think its very likely that it will have a major role in the firing the government of the catalan issue is at this point very very hard to handle. You cant as miguel said there are strong opposition to concessions to Catalan IndependencePro Independence opinion in much of spain and the independent sector a pro dependent sector in catalonia is absolutely adamant. Almost fanatically so its very very hard to pull anything out of hot to come out with something that can cover over even just paper over these 2 such opposing tenants. Feel free to comment on that on the catalonia issue as well but i do want to move the discussion now on to box and the rise of the far right is is spain shifting to the right politically. The case of books is i think very different from what weve seen in italy with their leg out of what weve seen in france with money in the pen books only really took flight only really emerged after precisely 27 then after the illegal brain dependence referendum gold by catalyst put them on in the lonia so both things are linked that is the more d. It is part of c. Of across the space in the couple an independent this are to get the and the upper hand there are a get in concessions from the government in madrid the more that box is going to rise that is whatever it whichever way the new government whatever government that is handled they got along situation will have an effect on the evolution of of books Political Force in spain when it comes to the and to look at the long situation if this indeed very and the rents the moment but i think about perhaps for the benefit of an International Audience is worth say in that about 60 percent of the border in got the lonia border for a unionist parties that this will be for nonindependent these parties and this is something thats sometimes a little bit distorted. But its the Government People dont this big with us one more its quite often they talk about the couple of people as if the war was all bubble as they say you got a lot you know one voice and you know that somebody totally darrien notion that some of the got the one independent least half the reality is that once again the my your if you have got them borders have not chosen a bring dependents party so this is also a bit of a new ones that i think i will be able to crush me go will the successor vox allowed to set the agenda on the the rights of politics the towards the rights of political debate at the expense of the p. P. What does this election mean for spains main center right party. Well for the p. P. Is the softer these are the conservatives. Basically because of the box this is growing at their expense but not on the other spends theres a very interesting fact about vox s. And his that its gotten lots of those also from these now almost the funked centrist citizens poncy which votes that have gone directly from an avowedly liberal party to the far right which is quite telling and it means that among other things that it is as carl has rightly said the issue of catalonia is the one that actually propels vox yes they also have a discourse on immigration control of immigration but is not really very important they dont insist too much on that because according to all opinion polls and the study of opinion in spain this is not a very important issue for most despite his s. F. Account but perhaps for a for a few areas so yes votes will have an effect its having already an effect in the right way in the conservatives they dont think they have an idea how they can recall the retrieve these these votes theyve lost to the far right and as long as they cant do that they know they will know they will not mean power for a long long time or make a spains right wing parties long accused predators sanchez of being beholden to cattle and separatist parties but hes going to need them to govern effectively isnt he how is that going to play with the far right. It will play badly its very difficult for him to attract. Independents to support. And the way. I really i go back to what i said before and i see a very difficult for the government do much more than perhaps a budget because a great many different forces from the p. P. To. Part of catalan in the pen of this sentiment are would accept that with some gilding of the lily gilding the lily gets to be the difficult part because spain is a very. Symbol oriented political culture and its very hard to pull things off when they go against the particular ideological grain of a given sector gentlemen we have i dont foresee a long government we have just a few minutes left of the program gentleman i just want to get you your final thoughts here on on what this election tells us about the change in politics not just in spain but wide across across europe with the rise of smaller parties often from the right fragmenting support for the larger traditional policies conus whats going on here. Well the story is one of polarization clearly and in spain as well us in the us in any other country youre right leave mentioned i would go even farther when it comes to our allies in the books boat done and we can mention before a story miguel mentioned before not only are they getting a large chunk of the board of this and the right of the end of the liberal party in the of citizens but theyre also get in a lot of support from the traditional working classes across of spain when you look at them up on the head mop of books like rosa spain there are places like the like of the phenol like morphia like the just the be called the red belt of mothery thats well where books are getting a lot of support that is it is a message that appeals in the u. K. You with gold im the left behind the another you know in the in america we see what pillory clean them gold from boulders and all the rest of. It is a message thats appealing to people that are increasingly dire that all of the politics of this published month and lets not forget that in the case of spain the stubble this month is very much not just the socialist party on the bit there but also or theyve got the nationalists and the basque nationalists that have played that really Important Role in the bell of moment of spains that wreath oriel system that is the most privileged or the wealthier regions in a spain like the Basque Country and got along and have been running the show for quite a long time and whats happening with books is that a lot of people in Border Regions of spain are having enough of it so there is a difference when it comes to the emergence of books in spain and those off of there from national or off the brits in part in the u. K. But the reason that particularly that spain has had the rhetorical problem that other please perhaps a commitment would you agree with that. Yes i agree i will give you just a few numbers now we have 17 parties in fall amount which is astounding but of those 17 parties 11 are actually either regional or local or dependents or nationalist and then of the other 6 part of the 6 parties we could Call National 3 could be considered as radical parties either left or right these this gives you an idea of how not just from mended but actually polarized spanish politics has become ok theyre gentle but im afraid were going to have to end the discussion im sorry rick here we didnt get some final thoughts from you were out of time now to go and show morrow. To lay the cow and call us congress a lot of many thanks to all of you gentlemen thank you as always for watching dont forget you can see the program again at any time just by going to the web site at aljazeera dot com and for further discussion join us at our Facebook Page youll find that at facebook dot com forward slash a. J. 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