Spanish government agrees to close down Diplocat

The Spanish cabinet on Friday approved the closure of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT). The organization had already been provisionally suspended on October 27, when the executive in Madrid took over the Catalan administration after a declaration of independence.

The DIPLOCAT consortium was set up in 2012 as a public-private partnership aiming to foster dialogue and build relationships between Catalonia and the rest of the world. DIPLOCAT organized promotional activities, such as talks and seminars in universities, in a range of places abroad.

The decision to definitively close the consortium came as little surprise, as on October 31 the central government had already informed the secretary general of the organisation, Albert Royo, of his dismissal. The agency also employed another 14 people.

Staff dismissed from foreign delegations

DIPLOCAT was part of government efforts to promote awareness of Catalonia among the international community. At the start of December, ACN reported that staff in Catalan government delegations in Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, Washington, Copenhagen, and Rome had been dismissed after Catalonia’s self-government was suspended.

Both DIPLOCAT and the Catalan government’s network of foreign delegations in cities abroad were controversial from the beginning. According to the Constitution, external action beyond Spain’s borders is a power exclusively reserved to the Spanish government.