The president of Catalonia, Quim Torra, has restated his wish for dialogue with the Spanish government to solve the current situation in Catalonia and urged Pedro Sánchez to stop "threatening" with article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, the article used last year to fire the Catalan government and have the then Spanish government take direct control of the region. The president is in France today, holding meetings with representatives of various institutions in Northern Catalonia.
As he had done hours earlier on Twitter, following Sánchez's veiled threats to suspend Catalan self-government again via article 155, Torra insisted that "a political conflict has to be resolved politically". "It seemed that we were now entering into a new stage of dialogue and negotiation", said Torra, who expressed surprise at Sánchez's comments.
Northern Catalonia
Torra, who has travelled to Perpignan to take "the pulse of Northern Catalonia", insisted that "we'll always be at the negotiating table". He is to meet with Perpignan's mayor, Jean-Marc Pujol, and the president of the Pyrénées-Orientales departmental council, Hermeline Malherbe.
The president, who urged Sánchez to present his proposal for Catalonia, reiterated his willingness "to meet with everyone" and his wish "to obey the Catalan Parliament". "I would have a problem if I were to not do that", he said, adding that he hasn't seen "gestures of dialogue" from the Spanish executive.
Yellow loops
As for the problems related to the unionist offensive against yellow loops, Torra called for responsibility, dialogue and an end to the "violent attitudes which don't have a place in Catalan society". The president has asked all those with such attitudes to not try to fracture Catalan society, because "they won't manage to".