Spain's brand new foreign affairs minister, Josep Borrell, hasn't got his mandate off to the best start; this Sunday evening he said, in an interview on TV channel La Sexta, that Catalonia "is on the edge of a civil clash". According to the PSOE minister, there's "a lot tension" because it's "a serious moment in the history of Spain". This comment has caused him to receive a wave of criticism on social media from the front lines of Catalan politics.
Quim Torra
The Catalan president's response was concise: "it's incomparably irresponsible". During the interview on Sunday, Borrell mentioned the new president: "Quim Torra's narrative presents Catalonia as a colony occupied by the Spanish since 1714, and aims to play the Kosovo card".
Carles Puigdemont
The president in exile described Borrell as a "crime novel minister", going on to say: "the far-right lends him the ink to write the fictional narrative which justifies the current repression and that to come, to forge a climate of fear and confrontation which, much to his regret, doesn't exist in Catalonia".
Josep Bargalló
The Catalan education minister has also replied in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio: "Enough of saying drivel, of saying nonsense and of inventing stories".
Mireia Boya
The former CUP deputy goes further: "If Borrell says that we're close to civil confrontation it's because he wants it [to be true], to vindicate those who legitimise him and to continue with the impunity of the violent far-right. Let's look after ourselves".
She returned to the topic this morning: "One thing, inciting violence like Borrell does, how many years in preventive detention without trial is that? It's for some friends".
Gonzalo Boye
Boye, a lawyer representing some of the ministers in exile, wrote: "I thought they'd named him minister of foreign affairs and not of propaganda".
Lluís Llach
The former JxSí deputy, and a famous Catalan singer-songwriter, wrote: "Name of the film. 'A minister on the edge of a nervous breakdown'".
Ernesto Ekaizer
The journalist Ernesto Ekaizer brought up both the new interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the leader of Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera: "If, as Borrell says, "Catalonia is on the edge of a civil clash", will interior minister Marlaska send reinforcements to prevent the "clash"? Is this a statement from the foreign minister or the interior minister?. NO. Statement by a pyromaniac. Borrell competing with Rivera."
Betona Comín
The sister of exiled former health minister, Toni Comín, posted: "Minister Borrell, now you have responsibilities in the Spanish government, you should be more aware of what that means. You have no shame making these statements!".
It's not just public figures and politicians who have criticised the foreign minister:
Translation: Mr Miquel Iceta, Mr Pedro Sánchez, are you proud and in agreement with the drivel that Mr Borrell has published? This is the path you see to return the situation in Catalonia to normal? Doesn't it embarrass you?
Mr Borrell, don't lie or take us for idiots, we're not, loose lips sink ships and your words are recorded
And I'd like Mr Borrell to stop spreading things that aren't true. They're very serious the statements he made yesterday. Living 600km away makes you lose track of reality.
For the independence movement, Borrell will still be better than Rajoy.
The favour they're doing the independence movement! Thanks Borrell.