Spanish president calls for 'dialogue between Catalans'

"Law, dialogue, coexistence and no independence," are the four pillars of the Spanish government's strategy towards Catalonia, said president Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday. Speaking in the Senate, while in Barcelona one million people called for a republic on Catalonia's National Day, Sánchez made the argument for "dialogue between Catalans."

Sánchez also accused the former PP government, who were in power in Spain during last year's independence bid, of being "irresponsible" in their handling of the Catalan crisis. Sánchez said his Socialist government, with strict respect for the law, is in favor of "dialogue with the Catalan public," because "one of the main problems in Catalonia is coexistence."

Sánchez made his comments in answer to a question from PP spokesman, Ignacio Cosidó, who asked the president "how far he will go in his dialogue with Torra," the Catalan president, who Cosidó described as "xenophobic." The spokesman warned Sánchez that "talking to rebels is a mistake" and that he should talk with "parties that defend Spain's unity."

"Those that want to break Spain do not deserve this dialogue," said Cosidó, who added: "The agreement to be reached is not with the rebels, but with the millions of Catalans who feel Spanish, who have been deserted by their government, and attacked by the supporters of independence," said the PP spokesman.

Sánchez hit back, defending his Socialist party, and pointing out its support for the imposition of direct rule on Catalonia last October after the Parliament declared independence. However, the Spanish president said that his government's current strategy involved "trying to normalize institutional life in Catalonia as a precursor to normalizing social life."

"Other measures would have been preferable"

Earlier in the day, Sánchez's foreign minister, Josep Borrell, admitted that "personally" in his opinion it would have been better if the Catalan political leaders awaiting trial for their part in last year's independence bid had not been sent to pre-trial prison. "Politically, other precautionary measures would have been preferable," he said.

The jailing of the pro-independence leaders has become a  bone of contention in the political conflict in Catalonia, but Borrell insisted that the "independence" of the judge who decided to detain the leaders must be respected. "The Spanish government cannot decide on whether to release the prisoners," he said, as "that would be to deny the separation of powers."