Catalan nationalist parties Convergencia, Unio end 37 years of cooperation

Thirty seven years of political accord and federation between the Catalan nationalist parties, Convergencia and Unio, effectively ended on Thursday with the news that they will present separate candidacies at the Sept. 27 elections for the Catalan Parliament.

The split, which will not for the moment affect local authorities where the two parties govern as Convergencia I Unio (CiU), has come about in the wake of the result of a vote held among members of Unio on Sunday, in which they narrowly voted to reject the pro-Catalan independence stance taken by Convergencia leader Artur Mas.

"The political project CiU is over ... we have finished a political project and we want to make the separation under friendly terms," said Coordinator of Convergencia Josep Rull on Thursday.

The result of the vote taken on Sunday had led to Converngencia giving Unio an ultimatum to support their independence plan and after rejecting that ultimatum Unio decided on Wednesday to withdraw their three ministers from Mas' regional government.

There can be no doubt that this division will severely weaken Mas' plan to use the Sept. 27 vote as a plebiscite for the independence of the Catalan region, but that plan was already under threat following the regional and local elections held on May 24.

Those votes saw CiU lose votes and city councils, such as Barcelona to left wing parties sponsored by Podemos and if these groups repeat their success in three months September's elections are unlikely to produce the pro-independence majority Mas is looking for. Endit