4 cabinet members among 8-strong Catalan delegation for talks with Spain

The Catalan delegation for the talks with the Spanish government beginning on Wednesday has been announced.

In a statement the Catalan government said that the Catalan representation should include Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez and Marta Rovira, but that "prison and exile" prevented normal negotiations.

The eight-strong team includes president Quim Torra, vice president and economy minister Pere Aragonès, digital minister Jordi Puigneró, foreign minister Alfred Bosch, and Josep Rius, former chief of staff for Torra and Puigdemont.

Three sitting MPs make of the rest of the delegation: Elsa Artadi, former presidency minister; Marta Vilalta, Esquerra (ERC) spokesperson; and Josep Maria Jové, former economy minister.

Torra and Aragonès will only attend the opening meetings and, if the case arises, those where agreements must be signed.

Party representation

On Thursday, Torra proposed that the far-left CUP party, civic groups Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, as well as the organisation Council for the Republic, headed by exiled former president Carles Puigdemont, also attend the dialogue table, but CUP, ANC and Òmnium all declined to take part.

The Catalan delegation, therefore, is made up of four representatives from each of the two governing parties, Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana.

The Catalan Socialists spokesperson Eva Granados said her party was unhappy with some of the delegation’s personnel. "We are disappointed with the makeup of the Catalan government delegation, which includes representatives that are not members of the Catalan government."

"It seems the Spanish government is taking this more seriously" than the Catalan government, she added, urging Torra and Aragonès to "rise to the occasion and seize the opportunity for dialogue."

Spanish delegation

The Spanish government delegation will be led by Spanish president Pedro Sánchez and include vice presidents Pablo Iglesias (Podemos) and Carmen Calvo, and ministers Carolina Darias, Salvador Illa and Manuel Castells (all Socialist Party).

Negotiation table

Wednesday’s meeting in Madrid sees the beginning of the "bilateral negotiation table" on the independence crises, following a one-to-one meeting between Sánchez and Torra earlier this month. It was the first time in over a year they had met in person after talks failed in early 2019 when Catalonia proposed a mediator to oversee the negotiations.

Sánchez’s commitment to negotiations was also a key demand of ERC in return for allowing the Socialist Party leader to get his presidential bid approved by the Spanish parliament.