Madrid urges Parliament president to find an alternative to Puigdemont

The Spanish vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, has asked the Catalan Parliament president, Roger Torrent, to open a new round of talks with party leaders in order to find an alternative candidate for president to Carles Puigdemont. According to the Spanish vice president, this is the only way to “save the situation that Puigdemont has provoked.”

The statement of Sáenz de Santamaría came one day after the Catalan Parliament president announced the postponement of the plenary session to swear in a new Catalan president. In an event in the city of Valencia, Sáenz de Santamaría urged MPs in Parliament to “get back on the track of dialogue and consensus.” She added that she was referring both to pro-independence and unionists’ MPs.  

The Spanish vice president stressed that the duty of the Spanish government is to “think about Catalans” and added that this is what her government is doing. In addition, she stated that society has been “divided” in Catalonia. “We must think in the future, governments must think in the future of the country, not in our own future,” she pointed out, referring to herself, as well as to Puigdemont.