Spanish PM and Catalan president to meet tomorrow in Barcelona

The Spanish PM, Pedro Sánchez, and the sitting Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, will meet up tomorrow in Barcelona.

The news, first reported by the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia and later confirmed by the Catalan News Agency (ACN), broke less than 24 hours before the gathering.

Sánchez will meet with Aragonès in the Catalan capital amid Catalan post-election talks, where the Socialists are negotiating with pro-independence Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party. The meeting is crucial as Sánchez, leader of the Spanish Socialists, will speak with Pere Aragonès, one of the main politicians in ERC.

The Socialists won the Catalan election on May 12, but they need the support of other parties, such as the ERC and left-wing Comuns-Sumar, to see Salvador Illa named president. While the deadline to vote for a new leader is August 26, Esquerra threatened to walk off the negotiations if no deal in exchange for their support was reached before August.

One of ERC's main requests is financial independence for Catalonia from Spain.

Both leaders will meet for the first time since the election and since the amnesty law benefiting those figures linked to the independence push came into force.

On Monday, Spanish and Catalan officials approved the hand over €1 billion for the transfer of the Rodalies commuter train network. A deal, which was part of the agreement signed between ERC and the Socialists to back a prime ministerial bid back in November.

'No to negotiate presidential bid'

The Catalan government has ensured that tomorrow's meeting is not scheduled "to negotiate the presidential bid of any candidate," spokesperson Patrícia Plaja said during a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Aragonès is not part of the negotiation team, and "he is not in charge of agreeing on presidential bids," she said before adding, "Do not expect any agreement."

The meeting will focus on transferring the Minimum Income payment from the Spanish government to the Catalan one. However, Aragonès will take the opportunity to ask for financial independence and agree to organize a self-determination referendum.

Both leaders will meet at noon before a signature ceremony with Spain's social security and migration minister, Elma Saiz, and the sitting Catalan social rights minister, Carles Campuzano.

'Personal interests'

The spokesperson of the conservative People's Party in the Catalan parliament, Juan Fernández, said that the Spanish PM is just meeting with sitting Catalan president Pere Aragonès for "personal interests," as he is looking for ways on "how to continue in power."

On a similar note, the far-right Vox party spokesperson in the chamber, Joan Garriga, said that the meeting would be "to share the power," as it is just "a mere meeting between partners," and that is a "humiliation" that it is the Spanish PM who travels to Catalonia, and not the other way round.