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Rajoy free to negotiate but no sign of new gov't in Spain

Xinhua, August 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday said that his People's Party had "authorized" him to negotiate a pact with center-right formation Ciudadanos in order to try and form a government.

Nevertheless, at a press conference held after a meeting of the Executive Committee of his Peoples' Party, Rajoy made no mention of the six conditions he was set a week ago by Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera as a condition for opening discussions over the formation of a new Spanish government.

In the wake of last week's meeting with Rivera, Rajoy had told the press he would have to present the conditions, which included anti-corruption measures, electoral reform and an investigation into the possible illegal funding of his party, to the PP Executive Committee for their approval.

However, following this Wednesday's PP Committee meeting, Rajoy insisted the PP had not discussed any of the conditions Rivera says are essential to any agreement between the two parties.

"Nobody said a word about the conditions," said the acting prime minister, who told reporters the Executive Committee had sat for a different reason.

"I called the Committee Meeting for them to authorize me to negotiate with Ciudadanos. I asked for the authorization because Spain needs a government now. We are going to fight until the end to avoid calling a new election and we don't want to waste time. We want Spanish politics to recover its maturity," Rajoy said.

Despite insisting on the need to form a government after eight months of political stalemate, Rajoy failed to set a date for an investment debate in the Spanish Congress, although he did admit that even if the PP and Ciudadanos reached an agreement that would have just 169 seats -- still short of the 176 needed for a majority in Congress.

That situation was highlighted by Socialist Party leader, Pedro Sanchez, who spoke to the press after Rajoy, accusing him of "treating the Spanish people like idiots," and repeating that he and his party would vote against his investiture as Prime Minister when or if an investiture vote is finally called. Endit