Spain’s turbulent politics : ‘Phrases like coup d’etat are floating around’

Reliance on support from Catalan separatists by new coalition has caused outrage

Listen | 40:28
Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is looking to form a new government. Photograph: AP.
Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is looking to form a new government. Photograph: AP.

It is almost four months since Spain went to the polls to elect a new parliament. This week it looks as if Socialist Party leader Pedro Sánchez is finally about to be confirmed for a new term as Prime Minister.

But the political road to that outcome has been complex and highly contentious, bringing to the fore all the divisions over ideology and identity which characterise the contemporary political scene in Spain, the EU’s fourth largest country.

On today’s Inside Politics podcast Hugh Linehan digs into what is happening in Spain with author Paddy Woodworth, who wrote two books about the Basque region, and Madrid-based reporter Guy Hedgecoe.

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