EC vice president discusses “difficult” Catalan situation with socialist leader

Barcelona. The First Secretary of the Catalan Socialist Party, Miquel Iceta, met with Frans Timmermans, the First Vice President of the European Commission, on Tuesday in Brussels. In declarations to the press, the Catalan socialist leader noted the “positive” interest of the EC’s first vice president in knowing Iceta’s position on the stalemate between Catalonia and Spain. Iceta said he expressed his concerns to the European Commission representative about Catalonia getting into a situation that would be “difficult” to get out of. Iceta also said he and Timmermans discussed several projects “affecting Catalonia” such as the Mediterranean Corridor and Barcelona’s candidacy for the new headquarters of the European Medicines Agency.

The Catalan socialist leader, Miquel Iceta, discussed the political situation in Catalonia with Timmermans on Tuesday in Brussels, which, in his opinion, is getting to a point of “difficult return” . Iceta said he explained to Timmermans that there was a complete lack of dialogue between the Spanish and the Catalan governments and that the Catalan government seems determined to call an “illegal” referendum. He also transmitted the socialists’ proposal for a solution: urgently reopen a dialogue in order to come to an agreement between the Catalan and Spanish socialists to undertake a federal reform of the Spanish Constitution.

When asked about the vice president’s impressions about these explanations, the first secretary of the PSC demurred, while suggesting that the European Commission thinks that it is up to the Catalan and Spanish institutions to solve the conflict. According to Iceta, no one should expect the European institutions to get involved, because they cannot play a role of intermediation. In his opinion, the solution must come from the Catalan and Spanish institutions. Iceta said he was “optimistic” that there was still time “to get to a solution about a serious problem”.