Tight deadlines for the formation of the government in Spain: either a solution is found by Thursday or new elections are held. This is the dramatic alternative of a country which has regained impetus in its economic recovery but which is struggling, amid independence tensions and "populist" impulses, to find a stable political path.
According to the polls, at the moment the Socialists of the Psoe, already the first party, are in the lead, growing by almost 10 points; his possible leftist ally (Unidas Podemos), on the other hand, has decreased in support and is increasingly fragmented internally; the other potential center ally (Ciudadanos) is in trouble; and the perennial adversary (the Partido Popular) seems destined to regain the supremacy of the centre-right. In three days Sanchez will have to decide: ally to govern or try the way of elections?
Three months have passed since the April elections which decreed the revenge of the PSOE and electoral success as the first party with 28,7% of the votes. Then we had to deal with the numbers looking for a possible government alliance, but since then the socialists led by Pedro Sanchez, formally in charge of forming the government, have not managed to untie the tangled Spanish skein. He did not go the way of a one-sided socialist with external support from Podemos whose leader, Pablo Iglesias, was calling for a mixed government with the post of vice president. Podemos calls for convergence on programs and names. On the first the distances don't seem unbridgeable, the negotiation on the second ones is more difficult. The most symbolic armchair is the one for Irene Montero, the number two of Podemos as well as Iglesias's companion and mother of his twins.
Time is running out: Tuesday, tomorrow, there will be the first investiture vote and Thursday at the latest, the second and last. Spain also needs an incumbent government to manage the negotiations on the new EU commission just as the Spaniard Joseph Borrel is called to become the High Representative for European foreign policy. Sanchez will have to decide: agreement or elections?
