carter center

Government suspects Spanish pressure behind US Embassy statement on Catalan independence

April 12, 2017 08:39 PM | ACN

The Catalan Government believes that the communiqué published by the US Embassy in Spain in relation to Catalonia was “a request of the Spanish Government motivated by the success of Puigdemont’s recent meetings with US representatives”. Puigdemont’s agenda in the US included a private meeting with former US President, Jimmy Carter, after which the institution said in a memo that “neither he nor The Carter Center could be involved” in the negotiations for the referendum. The Catalan executive told the CNA that the US Embassy's statement, published only in Spanish, which described Catalonia’s push for independence as an internal matter of Spain, “shows that the Catalan question is part of the political and diplomatic agenda and therefore is not an internal matter”.

Puigdemont denies having paid for meeting Carter and accuses Spain of embarrassing its own diplomats

April 10, 2017 02:30 PM | ACN

The Catalan branch of the Conservative People’s Party (PPC) accused the Catalan Government of having paid for the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont to meet with former US President, Jimmy Carter, last Friday in Atlanta. “This is not only false but indecent,” said Puigdemont in an interview with Catalunya Ràdiothis Monday. Such accusations, made by PPC’s leader Xavier García Albiol and supported by the main opposition party in the Catalan Parliament, Spanish unionist ‘Ciutadans’, prove Spain’s mindset, which “insists on treating Catalonia as a colony,” he added. Puigdemont also criticized the aim of the PP and Spanish Government to spread the idea that the Catalan executive “does not have the right”to explain its situation abroad. He said that some Spanish diplomats “feel uncomfortable”with the Spanish executive’s directions, which include “having to criticize”the Catalan Government and “blocking”events and meetings.

Puigdemont meets with Jimmy Carter to talk about Catalonia’s pro-independence process

April 7, 2017 03:38 PM | ACN

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, traveled to Atlanta on Thursday to meet former US President and Nobel Peace Laureate, Jimmy Carter. During the meeting, Puigdemont explained the current political situation in Catalonia and the pro-independence aspirations, a topic which “raises interest” beyond Catalonia’s borders, said the Catalan President in an interview with TV3 earlier this morning. Puigdemont’s trip was not on his official agenda and was carried out with utmost discretion in order to possible interference from the Spanish government. On Thursday, Puigdemont attended the ambassadors’ meeting at the Carter Center.