The Catalan president, Quim Torra, has sent a letter to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez and world leaders arguing for "mediated dialogue" to agree upon a referendum. The letter is dated 26th September, so was sent before Torra's letter this Wednesday to ask to arrange a meeting.
The letter, first published by El Periódico, was copied to some forty international leaders: the presidents or prime ministers of the European Union; the presidents of the US, Donald Trump, Russia, Vladimir Putin and China, Xi Jinping; pope Francis and the leaders of countries sensitive to pro-independence demands like Ukraine, Kosovo and Scotland.
President Torra asks Sánchez to "invite" prosecutors to withdraw the charges against the imprisoned pro-independence leaders, or at least "lift all objections" to their release on bail. If this happens, he continues, "the Catalan side is ready to explore all possible options with Madrid".
Mediated dialogue without preconditions
With the aim of raising the international profile of the situation in Catalonia, Torra formally requests the Spanish government to authorise "mediated dialogue... without preconditions" as soon as possible. He says that "the gap is not, in my view, unbridgeable".
Specifically, he asks the Spanish prime minister to suggest "one or more international mediators and observers" to help this process and says that Catalonia is ready to do the same.
Torra says the Catalan objective in the negotiation "is simple: to ensure respect for the democratically expressed will of the majority of the Catalan population, through a legally binding free and fair referendum, in which both sides agree to abide by the result". Their aim is not, he adds, to secure "immediate independence from Spain".
On the other hand, Torra warns that, "in the absence of meaningful dialogue", he believes the forthcoming trial of the pro-independence political prisoners would likely cause an "overwhelming demand" for such immediate independence. He concludes that "for all our sakes, a managed transition would be the preferable course".