Catalan parties criticize post-referendum speech in meetings with king

Representatives of Catalan parties in the Spanish parliament expressed criticism of the king's response to the 2017 independence bid on Thursday, in the traditional round of meetings with the monarch that take place following a general election.

Laura Borràs, spokeswoman for the pro-independence Junts per Catalunya party (JxCat), accused King Felipe VI of "taking sides" in the televised speech he gave two days after the unilateral independence referendum on October 1, 2017.

Talking to the press after the 45-minute meeting with the king, Borràs said she also expressed her party's displeasure that the Supreme Court did not allow Jordi Sànchez out of prison to meet the king, and she presented Felipe with a letter from the JxCat head.

"Perhaps they thought allowing him out of prison to go to La Zarzuela [palace] would damage the Crown's image, but what damages the image of this democracy is the existence of political prisoners," added Borràs.

Speech created "climate of hostility," says ECP

The head of the leftwing En Comú Podem party (ECP) in Congress, Jaume Asens, also said he brought up the king's speech, telling Felipe that it created a "climate of hostility." Without detailing his response, Asens said that the king "defended the content" of his speech.