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 A construction site worker brandishes a big metal panel in the
shape of Catalonia and asks his boss where he should mount it, only
to be told to leave that particular piece until last.
"As you wish," he says. "But I'm warning you - it's very big and we
won't know where to put it."
The question of Catalonia and its surging separatist movement has
become pivotal as Spain's political leaders try to thrash out a pact
on a government after the most fragmented national election in
decades.
The issue is shaping up as a deal-breaker for any left-wing alliance
and as a big stumbling block for a "grand coalition" involving the
ruling People's Party (PP) and the Socialists, who agree that the
region must not become independent but differ hugely on what should
be the stance of the central government.
The matter has become ever more pressing as Spain enters its third
month in a political vacuum following the Dec. 20 election at a time
when pro-secession Catalan authorities are trying to move forward
with their so-called "roadmap" to independence.
But parties in Madrid have so far carefully avoided getting deeper
into the question.
 "They have it in mind but don't give it the attention they should
given how important and significant it is," said Agustin Costa, a
47-year-old antique dealer by Barcelona's Gothic cathedral.
Like Costa, many in Catalonia believe the separatist question is
used by parties to make political gains but none of them is actually
ready to agree on painful compromises and risk a backlash with
voters, thus making any coalition deal unlikely.
"Even Podemos, which is in favor of an independence referendum,
seems to use this option depending on its political needs of the
moment," Costa shrugged as he sheltered under his stall from a
drizzle.
The conservative PP, which won most seats in the election but lost
its parliamentary majority, passed on its first chance to form a
government and now the baton has passed to the Socialists. Their
natural allies would have appeared to be the left-wing Podemos but
for the Catalan question.
Podemos has dangled the option of supporting a referendum on Catalan
independence, a possibility backed by about 80 percent of people in
Catalonia.
The Socialists reject this however, with their leader Pedro Sanchez
saying he is ready to reform the constitution to better accommodate
Catalonia but would not form an alliance with a party that supported
the break-up of Spain.
Senior Podemos leaders have since blown hot and cold on the question
of a plebiscite - a campaign pledge that helped them score a strong
showing in Catalonia - even though the party said it would recommend
voting against secession.
"The Socialist Party is not going to accept a referendum on
independence," said Miquel Iceta, head of the Socialists' Catalan
faction, at its offices in Barcelona.
If Podemos were to back down, it risks provoking internal divisions
among its own Catalan contingent.
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UNPRECEDENTED DILEMMA
While the separatist movement is still a long way from succeeding in
its goals, never before has it played such a role over the formation
of a national government.
Not only has the Catalan question become the big hot potato of the
talks, but 17 of the 47 Catalan parliamentarians who sit in the
national 350-seat lower house are independence supporters - a
significant contingent when it comes to coalition-forming.
A Socialist-Podemos alliance, currently seen as Spain's best shot at
avoiding a new national election, would for instance need backing or
an abstention from Catalonia's two main pro-independence parties to
achieve a majority.
Meanwhile, the opposition of those two parties to any combination
involving the PP and newcomer party Ciudadanos, both in favor of a
tighter control of the central government over regional politics,
makes other alternatives unlikely.
A potential three-way pact between the Socialists, Podemos and
Ciudadanos, which would have a strong absolute majority, has also
been ruled out in great part because they have incompatible views on
Catalonia.
But some believe the new splintered political scene could instead
provide new opportunities to break the deadlock with Catalonia and
defuse the separatist sentiment because it makes it compulsory for
several parties to compromise.
The Socialists' Iceta is hoping the party's plan for constitutional
reform - which would shake up how regions are financed, redefine
their powers in more of a federal system, and recognize some of
Catalonia's singularities - can form the basis for talks with
parties as well as defuse the separatist push.
There also remains a chance the separatist issue could sow the seeds
for a "grand coalition" between the PP, Socialists and Ciudadanos.
Even some of the parties at loggerheads on economic policy have
common ground in their defense of Spanish unity.
"Any concession over the Catalan question implies a huge political
cost for any leader within his party," said Anton Costas, who runs
the Circulo de Economia, a powerful business lobby based in
Catalonia.
"But the December election has created a new landscape in which it
is now possible to give an answer to this question."
(Reporting by Sarah White, Editing by Julien Toyer and Angus
MacSwan)
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