Highlights

The Spanish King has signed this Tuesday the decree calling an early election in Spain. The main political parties have been unable to reach an agreement to form a stable government and so for the first time since the restoration of democracy, the Spanish Congress will be dissolved only five months after a general election. The calling of early elections has been an open secret since last week, when the King already said that he was not going to offer the leader of any political party the task of trying to form a government. Neither conservative Mariano Rajoy nor socialist Pedro Sánchez have the necessary support to win an investiture debate. Sánchez tried to achieve the support of Congress for a government led by him and C’s but was defeated. Rajoy, the current president, did not even try.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, the mayors of Barcelona and other major cities in the country and local associations will meet this Tuesday to discuss a united response to the legal attack against the Catalan Social Emergency Law. The Spanish Government has asked the Constitutional Court (TC) to suspend parts of Law 25/2015, one of the more important legislative initiatives in Catalonia, which aims to protect the most vulnerable against energy cuts and other housing-related causes of poverty. The Catalan Government and the local representatives are expected to find a common strategy to deal with this legal challenge, which they consider a “serious attack” on the Catalan people and its institutions.

London is the chosen destination for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to continue his official visits abroad. He will be in the British capital from the 11th to the 13th of May. There, he will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. The Catalan President “will argue that the majority of Catalans now want independence” and “his government’s timeline for increased autonomy and, ultimately, independence”, according to Chatham House. Puigdemont will hold “informal and discrete” meetings with representatives from the City. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after having visited several cities in Belgium this past weekend.