pedro sánchez

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, finally met this Wednesday in Madrid to talk about the self-determination process and also about economic, social and institutional issues. Mas told Rajoy that a majority of the Catalan Parliament plans to hold a self-determination vote on the 9^th of November and they want to do it "reaching an agreement with the Spanish Government and within the legal framework". However, if Rajoy rejects negotiating such an agreement, Mas will use the Catalan legal framework to organise a legal vote. Rajoy emphasised that the consultation vote "is not legal and will not be legal" and therefore "will not take place". However, the Spanish PM did not present any alternatives to modify the current status quo. Besides, Mas presented Rajoy with a document with 23 issues not related to self-determination, such as Catalonia's under-budgeted public services, pending infrastructure works, and the Education Reform.

The much awaited meeting between the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, has finally been announced for Wednesday 30^th of July at 11am, after both politicians have stated during several months that they were open to talk. In the meeting they will discuss the institutional and social affairs related to the economic crisis, but they should also talk about the organisation of a self-determination vote in Catalonia. However, Rajoy has rejected to talk about it, as he considers it "an absurd" debate, despite the fact that 80% of Catalans want to hold such a vote and it is the main topic in Catalonia's political agenda, and probably in Spain's as well. Besides, on Monday 28^th of July, Rajoy will meet Pedro Sánchez, the new Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), who is also against Catalonia's self-determination and offered his will to reach agreements on "the territorial model".

Madrid-born Pedro Sánchez won the primaries of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) with 48% of the votes and will be elected the party's new Secretary General, replacing Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. Meanwhile, Miquel Iceta received 85% of the votes and will replace Pere Navarro as the new Secretary General of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), being the only candidate in these primaries. Both of them share the previous leaderships' views on Catalonia's self-determination process: they oppose independence and November's consultation vote. Both the PSOE and the PSC held elections on Sunday but the primaries' winners will be officially elected by the emergency party congresses to be held over the next two weekends. Sánchez defeated Eduardo Madina (36%) and José Antonio Pérez Tápias (15%), who was the only candidate fully supporting Catalonia's self-determination vote and shaping Spain as a pluri-national state.