SPAIN: A photograph on the front page of a Spanish newspaper yesterday showed the new Catalan leader José Montilla with his back to the camera facing his two coalition partners.
The caption read "Montilla turns his back on Zapatero". Prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mr Montilla are both Socialists, but they look in different directions. Spanish Socialists boast that they are a federal party where each region runs its own affairs only under the parental umbrella of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), which Mr Montilla leads, is proud of its independence from Madrid.
For almost four years the PSC, the second largest party in the region, had governed in a troubled "Tripartit" coalition with the separatist Republican Left (ERC) and the left-wing Catalan Initiative-Greens (ICV), two junior partners who imposed their more radical demands on the PSC. The differences within the coalition eventually forced outgoing Catalan president Pasqual Maragall to call early elections and retire from politics.
The elections at the beginning of the month dealt a blow to the PSC, which lost five seats in the 135-seat chamber, making it the second party in the region.
The Convergence and Union Party (CiU) was the numerical winner, with an 11-seat majority over PSC, but that was insufficient to form a government. Now the PSC has reached an agreement to reform the triple coalition with the ERC and Green parties.
Mr Montilla is the first non-Catalan to govern in this region. He has been criticised by patriotic Catalans, who would prefer one of their own to lead them. But yesterday he vowed he would be his own man and would not submit to "external pressure" or repeat the mistakes of his predecessor.
He did not repeat the term "Tripartit" for his government, preferring to describe it as one of "Entesa Nacional de Progreso", meaning "national understanding for progress" in Catalan.
CiU, which governed in Catalonia until 2003, said yesterday it no longer felt bound to respect its pledge to support Mr Zapatero's government in parliamentary votes.
Although officially Mr Zapatero and his party have welcomed the new Entesa, many members of the party have expressed concern over the pact with ERC. They fear the coalition will once more be forced to submit to the demands of its partners.
Mr Zapatero said the pledge not to repeat the errors of the past was "very positive". He recognised CiU's withdrawal of parliamentary support could have a negative effect in votes. "But I am confident we can maintain an open and fluid dialogue."