Catalan government meets to decide if it will declare independence

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, will address Parliament this afternoon with a speech that could prove to be decisive. After having speculated that the Catalan president could call for snap elections, it seems that the declaration of independence is now a favoured option. 

But the final decision will be taken in today’s meeting. The Catalan president has restarted at 10 am the meeting that was held yesterday with the ministers of the government and pro-independence organisations to prepare his afternoon speech. Yesterday’s meeting was suspended at 2 am and it was intended that to take up where it left off at 10am morning.

Puigdemont meets the Executive Board

In today’s meeting, the Catalan president will meet first with the Executive Board and will explain his plans for this afternoon’s discussion in Parliament to all the ministers of the Catalan government.

The Catalan president will also meet with all the members of the parliamentary group of JxSí, including the leaders of pro-independence parties PDeCAT and ERC. The lawmakers of JxSí will arrive at the Catalan government’s building, the Palace of the Generalitat, at 10:30 in the morning.

Yesterday’s summit lasted more than 7 hours

The summit at the Palace of the Generalitat to give a response to Spain’s enforcement of Article 155 of the Spanish constitution ended at 2 am, more than seven hours after it began. The Catalan president summoned the lawmakers of his parliamentary group, JxSí, and pro-independence organisations to outline the next steps to be taken.