Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived in parliament ahead of a crucial vote on the 2019 budget that could result in an early election.
Political sources said that Spain’s minority Socialist government plans to announce an early general election after an expected defeat in a budget vote following its refusal to negotiate Catalan self-determination.
Two small Catalan pro-independence parties, on whose votes the government has been relying to pass legislation, have so far maintained their blanket rejection of the budget.
They said they were open to negotiate until the budget vote if the government promised them a dialogue on the right to self-determination, but that right is prohibited by the Spanish constitution.