How Catalonia Remains a Thorn in Spanish Politics

It’s been two years since Catalonia’s then-government tried to stage a breakaway from Spain and riot police clamped down on an illegal independence referendum. In October, the Spanish Supreme Court handed down stiff jail sentences to some of the leaders of that effort. And on Thursday, one of the two parties behind the crisis is expected to give acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez the final backing he needs to take power for a second term. The Catalan question remains at the heart of Spain’s fractured politics, sharpening animosities and polarizing public opinion.

Catalonia was the big issue at the polls. The Spanish nationalists of Vox, who had called for a hard-line crackdown on the separatists, more than doubled their support to become the third-biggest force in parliament. The big loser was Ciudadanos, a formerly centrist party that had shifted to the right over Catalonia and found itself outflanked by Vox. Another winner was Podemos. The anti-austerity group lost seats in the November vote but immediately sealed a political pact with Sanchez as he tried to cement a left-wing coalition in the face of the far-right surge.