Ex-Spanish delegate in Catalonia gets Andalusian government post

Enric Millo, the Spanish government delegate in Catalonia at the height of the independence crisis, has been appointed secretary-general for foreign affairs by the regional government of Andalusia.

Millo was the highest authority in Catalonia over the seven months of direct rule from Madrid, an exceptional measure triggered by former Spanish president Mariano Rajoy to remove the pro-independence government of Carles Puigdemont.

Dismissed from his post when the Socialists came to power in June 2018, Millo has secured a job in what could become one of the few administrations controlled by the People’s Party in the coming years, with the conservatives having plunged in a general election and facing a string of regional and local polls within a month.

Although PP and Ciudadanos control the Andalusian government with the support of far-right Vox, the three parties have not managed to obtain a majority of seats in the Spanish congress.

Catalan trial testimony

Millo recently appeared as a witness at Spain’s Supreme Court, where 12 Catalan politicians and activists are in the dock for calling a referendum and declaring independence in 2017.

Millo described “dozens of acts of harassment, intimidation and violence" by pro-independence supporters in the run-up to the October 1 referendum, carried out despite a Spanish court ban.