After a break of over a year, talks between the Spanish and Catalan leaders have resumed at the highest level for the first time. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke to Prime Minister Quim Torra in Barcelona today about the region’s independence efforts.
The meeting – the first since late 2018 – should focus on political solutions to the conflict. According to reports, Sanchez Catalonia wanted to offer, among other things, a regular dialogue forum, more cooperation between the region and central government and an autonomous financial system.
Dialogue promised
In January Sanchez promised the largest Catalan party, ERC, to initiate a dialogue with the breakaway region within a short period of time. In return, the party had abstained from the decisive parliamentary vote on Sanchez’s election and thus helped him to take office on January 7th.
In the meantime, however, there has been a break between Torra’s Junts per Catalunya party and the ERC. Torra then announced a new election at the end of January. Sanchez had initially hesitated to start a dialogue with the separatists before the vote – but then turned in.
No concrete progress can be expected
However, Spanish media wrote that concrete progress was not expected soon. „Sanchez and Torra know that apart from a declaration of intent, the conversation will be useless and will only serve to keep the form – which is not a little, given the political panorama,“ said the newspaper „Las Provincias“.
The sticking point is likely to be the detained separatist leaders, who were sentenced to long prison terms in the course of the banned independence referendum in October 2017. Torra and his colleagues are demanding their pardon and more self-determination. Madrid strictly rejects this.
