Catalan foreign minister, Ernest Maragall, has this Monday met the Spanish foreign affairs, EU and cooperation minister, Josep Borrell, and the minister of territorial policy, Meritxell Batet. In today's initial meeting, Maragall told the Spanish ministers of the wish to discuss "the situation of rights and freedoms in Catalonia" relating to the imprisoned politicians and the Catalan desire to "decide its future" through a referendum in the upcoming bilateral commission. The commission will meet in Barcelona and the Catalan minister says he sees no reason why the two points shouldn't be on the agenda.
"They are questions which will have to be treated with the same intensity", he said, referring to the other agenda items already proposed by Spain: the ending of lawsuits over competencies before the Constitutional Court relating to social, tax and other laws, and outstanding financial transfers. The specific points, however, like the exact date for the meeting, will be decided over the next two days.
Although Batet hasn't given an official response, prime minister Pedro Sánchez had no problem with Catalan president Quim Torra mentioning the same topics in their meeting in Madrid a fortnight ago. Maragall said that today's meeting was useful and cordial. He gave Batet two books, Qué pasa en Cataluña ("What's happening in Catalonia", untranslated) and Historia de Cataluña para intelectuales castellanos ("History of Catalonia for Castilian intellectuals", untranslated) and joke that he had given Borrell "a magnificent conversation".
Maragall also says he has committed to respecting the Law on Action Abroad, by which the Catalan government has to send a non-binding report to notify Spain when it opens new delegations abroad, although the minister cited "pending questions on the interpretation of the rules". This follows the Catalan government not telling Spain it was reopening offices in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the US, Italy, Switzerland and France until the evening before their official publication in the government's gazette. The minister said he had received no pressure against opening new offices abroad.
In response to a question from El Nacional, Maragall said they hadn't discussed an incident between the governments in Washington DC, nor Borrell's order to Spanish diplomats to counteract reports favourable to the independence process abroad. The Washington incident came during president Quim Torra's recent visit, when he left a speech by the Spanish ambassador in protest at his comments.