Rajoy dismisses Puigdemont’s call for meeting

Mariano Rajoy has dismissed Carles Puigdemont’s call for dialogue. Only two hours after the sacked Catalan president asked for a meeting with the Spanish president, “anywhere in Europe”, to begin talks “with no conditions”, his Spanish counterpart turned down his offer.

“The person I would have to sit down with is the winner of the elections, who is Inés Arrimadas,” said Rajoy in a news conference, referring to the leader of Ciutadans, the party that got the most votes in Thursday’s Catalan election.

In fact, Rajoy began the news conference by congratulating Arrimadas for the victory. He also admitted that he had talked to the president of Ciutadans, Albert Rivera, within the previous few hours.

While the unionist party came first in the election, the pro-independence bloc of parties maintained a majority of seats in the Catalan Parliament. It is therefore far more likely that the leader in favor of a Catalan state will become the new president rather than Arrimadas.