To begin with, the Catalan regional president Pere Aragonès received the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in the government palace in Barcelona on Wednesday. Then both wanted to first discuss the “timetable” for the talks over the next few months in the presence of several ministers.
Before the meeting, Aragonés had reaffirmed that he would adhere to the demand for self-determination for the 7.5 million inhabitants of Catalonia. The central government rejects this demand strictly. Only on Saturday tens of thousands demonstrated in Barcelona for the region’s independence. According to the ANC, the separatist citizens’ movement, around 400,000 people were on the streets on the occasion of the Catalan national holiday. The police, however, estimated the number at only 108,000.
The left central government wants to resolve the conflict through dialogue. In June, despite all criticism from the conservative opposition, she pardoned nine detained separatist leaders. The measure was necessary “to restore harmony and coexistence,” said Sánchez at the time. In 2019, the separatists were sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years in connection with the illegal independence referendum of 2017, among other things for rioting and misappropriating public funds.
After the referendum on October 1, 2017 and a subsequent decision to secede from Spain, Catalonia was placed under compulsory administration by the then conservative central government of Mariano Rajoy. The then regional president Carles Puigdemont evaded the access of the Spanish judiciary by hiding in an off-road vehicle and leaving for France in good time and from there fled to Belgium.