Catalan and Spanish governments meet amid opposition criticism

High ranking officials in the Spanish and Catalan governments met in Barcelona on Friday evening with both sides stressing the need to continue the commitment to dialogue made earlier in the month.

According to the executives, the meeting helped “advance in negotiation” regards a space for dialogue, although neither side has confirmed they will take part in such an initiative. Both Catalan and Spanish officials coincided in describing the atmosphere of the meeting as “constructive.” 

Opposition criticizes "secrecy"

The opposition, however, accused the two governments of negotiating in "secret." Spanish vice president Carmen Calvo, who rejected the accusations, said "what is needed is to continue talking," before going to the Catalan capital after Friday's cabinet meeting to sit down with her Catalan counterpart, Pere Aragonès, and presidency minister, Elsa Artadi.  

In their last meeting on January 17, which included Spanish president Pedro Sánchez, both governments opened the door to set up two "spaces of dialogue," one for the executives and one for the parties, to tackle the issue of the independence conflict.