Tensions on the rise among Catalan pro-vote parties / Socialists’ unity questioned under strain of Catalan separatist pressure

Division between the bloc of parties in favour of holding a referendum on Catalan sovereignty increased in October 2013. The leftist-green ICV communicated to regional premier Artur Mas's CiU nationalists and the ERC Catalan Republican Left that it will not accept the Catalan government's push for a referendum that solely considers the idea of independence for the region.

Separately, the rift between the central Socialist Party (PSOE) and its Catalan branch, the PSC, over the region’s bid to hold a referendum over sovereignty was growing wider.

• Primary Source

Blog: LSE EuroppBlog, 31.10.13: Spain’s Socialist Party must carefully balance competing pressures over its policy on Catalan independence http://bit.ly/HfR7x2

ESO: Background information: The independence of Catalonia: jumping on a bandwagon http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-independence-of-catalonia-jumping-on-a-bandwagon/

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