Barcelona and Madrid: Growing Tensions
... Can”), which got 1.2 million votes and 5 seats in the 2014 European parliamentary election in May 2014. In the upcoming election, Podemos could be a formidable rival for the two leading parties. The party, while taking a stance against the separation of Catalonia from Spain, recognizes the Catalans’ right to define their own future. The new balance of forces in Spain may eventually impact its political and territorial structure, including the outcome of the “Catalan issue”. But for now, all this is just guesswork. Meanwhile, the conflict between the poll-winning separatists and the uncompromising ruling People’s Party is getting worse.