Catalan-Spanish summit: no to referendum, maybe to recovering social laws

The Spanish government has ruled out agreeing on an independence referendum with the Catalan government after their first bilateral commission summit in seven years—a meeting marked by great discrepancies between both executives.

Meritxell Batet, minister for territorial policy and head of the Spanish delegation, said that Catalonia’s right to self-determination “does not exist,” and rejected creating a bilateral working group on the matter.

“We’ll insist, and we’ll win even though they keep ¡telling us that this is not a matter for discussion,” said in response Ernest Maragall, Batet’s counterpart in the Catalan delegation and minister for foreign affairs.

The summit comes after a year of unprecedented political turmoil, marked by last October’s referendum and declaration of independence, all deemed illegal by Spain.