Mayor of Barcelona urges 'real dialogue, not through letters'

Mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau urged the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, and his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, to engage in "a real dialogue" instead of keeping sending each other "letters"

In comments to the press, Colau blamed Rajoy for asking the Catalan leader to "surrender" before engaging in any dialogue. "It's a mistake if the first answer you want from your opponent is capitulation. [In that case] dialogue will clearly not work out," she said.

Barcelona's mayor said that for any dialogue to be successful both Rajoy and Puigdemont should "respect each other" and assume "the possibility of making concessions".

The mayor of Barcelona also criticized the Spanish People's Party (PP) lead by Rajoy for not budging an inch in its response to the Catalan situation despite the significant popular demand for dialogue.

In fact, Colau said that there is a "clear mandate" for dialogue. "We need leaders sitting around the table not sending each other letters," she said.

Ada Colau also said that the current "uncertainty" should not last any longer as it is "socially and economically" harmful.