The Spanish Government may impugn Puigdemont’s taking office

Barcelona (CNA).- New Catalan President, Calres Puigdemont’s taking office will be studied by the Spanish Government’s legal services. Current Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy confirmed that a report will be written to analyse the ceremony, during which Puigdemont didn’t mention Spain’s King nor the Spanish Constitution. “According to this report we will make the appropriate decisions, following the current legislation and the general interests of all the Spanish citizens”, warned Rajoy. The Current Spanish Prime Minister assured that “the time has come to take things seriously and stop making headlines”. Rajoy admitted that, despite the petitions from other groups in the Spanish Parliament, “so far” he “doesn’t intend” to meet with Puigdemont.

Rajoy, from the Spanish People's Party (PP) met this Wednesday with the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and Anti-Catalan Nationalism Ciutadans to discuss a possible triple-alliance between these parties to form the new Spanish government. The current Spanish Prime Minister nuanced that a potential agreement doesn’t include reform of the Constitution, which both PSOE and Ciutadans have urged modification in order to respond, for example, to Catalonia’s push for independence. “We will talk about all this” Rajoy stated “what we can’t say is that a problem such as that in Catalonia will be solved by a federal reform without explaining what it is and without having enough votes to do so”. “The time has come to take things seriously and stop making headlines”, he concluded.

Spanish Parliament’s Bureau has been constituted

Rajoy made these statements on the same day the Spanish Parliament’s Bureau was constituted. Socialist and former President of the Basque country, a region in the north of Spain with a strong nationalist feeling, Patxi López has been elected as President of the ‘Congreso de los Diputados’, the Spanish Parliament. Thus, the Spanish Socialists have the power to manage the calendar of the Spanish chamber while the People’s Party (PP), the current governing party, became the party with the most representatives in the Bureau. 

The PP will have three representatives in the Parliament’s Bureau. Former vice-president of the Spanish chamber, Celia Villalobos, former leader of the PP in Catalonia, Alícia Sánchez Camacho and Rosa Romero.

The PSOE will have Micaela Navarro as second vice-president of the chamber, besides Patxi López’ presidency.

The two new parties in the chamber will also have their representatives in the Parliament’s Bureau. Ciutadans designed Ignacio Prenedes and Patrícia Reyes and alternative left Podemos chose Gloria Elizo and Marcelo Expósito, from Podemos’ Catalan faction, ‘En Comú Podem’.

López calls for “dialogue and agreement” in the chamber

López emphasised the chamber’s “plurality” and called for the ability to “dialogue and reach agreements” during his first speech. “Spain is plural in the ideological sphere and diverse on its understanding of diversity” he stated “but it is, above all, a common project, a civic agreement for freedom”.  “Together we must deal with the discrepancies” and try to find “what unites us rather than what divide us” he concluded.

The Catalan nationalists, not represented in the Bureau

Left-wing pro-independence ERC and ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ –the name under which liberal CDC, the former governing party in the Catalan Government run for the Spanish Elections – won’t be represented in the Spanish Parliament’s Bureau. However, members from both PP and PSOE guarantee that the two pro-independence parties would have their own parliamentary groups in the chamber. Despite this, the final decision would depend on the Spanish Parliament’s Bureau.