Pedro Sánchez and Carles Puigdemont face to face in EU Parliament for first time

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont came face to face in the European Parliament on Wednesday. 

Carles Puigdemont, currently a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Junts, was able to respond directly to Sánchez, an unprecedented moment in the chamber.

The former president, who left Catalonia to live in exile in Belgium in 2017, criticized the Socialist leader for failing to make Catalan an official EU language after Sánchez's government withdrew its proposal from vote after failing to secure enough support. 

"Today I speak to you in your mother tongue, since I cannot do it in mine," Puigdemont told him. "Millions of Europeans whose mother tongue is Catalan are unable to use their own language to exercise fundamental rights."

"Prime Minister Sánchez, opportunities must be seized. If they are missed because of fear or incompetence, the consequences are never pleasant," he told the Spanish PM.

The Junts leader also warned that the "problem" with promises is not keeping them. "Non-fulfillment creates mistrust, which can even jeopardize a project as solid as the European Union," he added.  

In the final statement after all the interventions, Sánchez responded directly to Puigdemont, urging him to maintain "negotiations" to continue the "path of normalization" in Catalonia. 

Spanish Presidency of EU Council

Sánchez appeared on the European Parliament to outline the results of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which ends at the end of the year.

The Spanish PM described the mandate as a "success", highlighting the closure of more cases than the average of presidencies. He also expressed optimism about finalizing the agreement on fiscal rules this month, as well as making progress on the migration and asylum pact.

Sánchez said his government would be a "great ally" of the EU and would "always" defend European values, amid fierce criticism from the European People's Party over the Catalan amnesty law, which he defended as "a way to overcome the conflict" and said it was "an important step."