Under fire Catalan president steps up separatist rhetoric

Catalan president Quim Torra has stepped up his separatist rhetoric, sparking criticism from all sides on Monday, just as his government is weakened by divisions and anger over austerity measures. In a speech in Brussels on Saturday, Torra urged Catalans to follow the example of Slovenia, which unilaterally declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, triggering a 10-day armed conflict with the Yugoslav army which killed 62 people. "Catalans are not afraid. They do not frighten us. There is no turning back in the path to freedom. Slovenians decided to go ahead with all the consequences. Let's do like them and be ready for anything to live freely," Torra said following a visit to Slovenia. Torra also began a 48-hour fast on Sunday in solidarity with four jailed Catalan separatist leaders who are on a hunger strike while they await trial over their role in Catalonia's failed independence bid in 2017. The sensitive trial is expected to start early next year. His harder line on separatism comes as his government has been weakened by a wave of strikes by doctors, teachers and civil servants over spending cuts and by a protest by radical separatists which resulted in clashes with Catalan regional police. "Torra is in trouble domestically because there is a wave of protests against spending cuts. The fact that he is under pressure could explain why his rhetoric has been so aggressive," Teneo Intelligence analyst Antonio Barroso told AFP. - 'Rally his base' - Torra's backing of the "Slovenian route" to independence angered Spain's central government. "It's unfortunate, regrettable," government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa told Spanish radio, before recalling that people were killed in the conflict in Slovenia. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borell also weighed in, telling reporters in Brussels that Torra "appeared to appeal for an insurrection" with his language. Far-right party Vox said it would file a criminal complaint against Torra for "incitement to rebellion". In a sign of the divisions within the separatist camp, some more moderate separatists also criticised Torra, including the allied leftist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC). "He is trying to rally his base, he is trying to show to the international community that this is still an issue that needs resolution," Georgina Blakely, a lecturer on Spanish politics at Britain's Open University, told AFP. Fernando Vallespin, political scientist at the Autonomous University of Madrid, agreed, saying Torra was trying to put Catalonia "back in the headlines" at a time when Britain's fraught process to exit the European Union and anti-government protests in France are hogging the limelight. - Early elections? - Torra's tone complicates Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's desire for dialogue with Catalonia. Sanchez wants to meet with Torra in Barcelona on December 21 but radical separatists have already threatened to derail this gesture of appeasement with fresh protests. "If Catalonia's position is to radicalise its discourse...the most intelligent option for Sanchez would be to call early elections very quickly or else the right will gain ground," Vallespin said. During regional elections in the southern Andalusia on December 2, far-right party Vox and centre-right party Ciudadanos, which have both adopted a hardline against Catalan separatism, did well. The Socialists, who have ruled the southern region uninterrupted for 36 years, lost 14 seats from the last election in 2015 and are set to lose their grip on power if parties on the right join forces to form a government. Analysts said the Socialists were penalised in part because Sanchez's minority government relies on the support of Catalan separatists at the national level to pass legislation. If Catalonia keeps up its tough talk on independence, this could lead to a win for the right in the next national election widely expected in 2019 which could favour Torra, Vallespin said. "It's easier to confront a more radical state than one which is more open and friendly like that of Pedro Sanchez," he added.