Sánchez and Torra meeting on agenda
Preparations underway to arrange meeting between Spanish and Catalan leaders to discuss solution to conflict
A meeting is imminent between members of the Catalan and Spanish governments after Spanish Vice President Carmen Calvo and Catalan Vice President Pere Aragonés and Minister for the Presidency Elsa Artadi held talks on Monday evening in Barcelona. They talked about the format and content of the meeting, which, according to various sources, are still a matter of discussion and therefore, “everything is still open,” sources of Presidency said yesterday.
The Catalan executive has made it clear to La Moncloa that it is totally prepared to commit to dialogue provided that it is “useful”. This means developing an agenda to include issues that move away from the usual topics addressed in such meetings and bilateral commissions.
The Catalan government wants Pedro Sánchez to go a step further than in the first meeting between the two in Madrid on July, in which the Socialist leader acknowledged the existence of a political problem in Catalonia that had to be resolved in the field of politics. Following this line of argumentation, the Catalan executive now wants to this second meeting to be a summit attended by more than two government representatives per side.
Regarding the content, President Torra’s team is also committed to providing solutions to the political conflict that Catalonia is experiencing. In this regard, an agreed referendum is the main proposal offered by the Catalans to resolve the institutional impasse, although there is an awareness that the idea is rejected by La Moncloa.
Now it is necessary to see the Spanish government’s proposal, although President Sánchez already said last Monday that his offer will arrive after the 1-O trial.