delegation

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The British Parliament has registered an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to discuss the political situation in Catalonia. The initiative will be made official on the 14th of March in London and includes 20 MPs from the main British parties, from Conservatives to Labour, all the way up to the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Welsh Plaid Cymru. Indeed, SNP MP George Kerevan was one of the main promoters of the group. Kerevan repeatedly expressed in favour of Catalonia’s right to decide its political future and criticised the prosecution of the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, for allowing a debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan chamber. The group is due to meet at least twice per year and will be open for other MPs to join.

The new delegate of the Spanish executive in Catalonia, former MP Enric Millo, took office this Monday. The representative from the Catalan branch of the conservative People’s Party (PPC) assured that he is “willing to dialogue” and emphasised his predisposition to “reduce the distances” between the Spanish and Catalan institutions. He also insisted on the need to respect the Spanish Constitution, adding that it can be “modernised” but “through dialogue and consensus rather than through imposition”. The Catalan Government’s spokeswoman, Neus Munté, described Millo as a person “who is well aware of the Catalan reality” and admitted that “it wouldn’t be difficult” to find changes compared to Millo’s predecessor, María de los Llanos de Luna, regarding the predisposition to dialogue.

The Delegation of the Catalan Government in Portugal is already a reality. The new office located in Lisbon started working this Monday and aims to “increase the economic and cultural relationships” between Catalonia and Portugal, which are “historic and very fluent”. “Catalonia is willing to be, and has to be, a global actor” stated Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva and added that “the delegations are a tool for Catalonia to have its own voice in the world”. Romeva also emphasised the need for Catalonia to be “connected” to the world and insisted on the Catalan executive’s will to “keep the dialogue” with the Spanish Government. The journalist Ramon Font has been appointed as the Head of the Delegation in Lisbon, which now becomes the eighth office of the Catalan Government abroad.

Sergi Marcén took office on Thursday with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations between Catalonia and the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland. After the ‘Brexit’ result, Catalonia wants to improve its support and service to Catalan citizens and companies in the UK and Ireland. The new Head of Delegation held his first meeting with the Minster of Foreign Affairs Raül Romeva in Barcelona to analyse the main priorities of action. Marcén replaces Josep Manuel Suàrez, who retired last spring.

Mireia Belmonte won the 200-metre butterfly this Wednesday and became the first Spanish woman to win an Olympic swimming gold medal. The 25-year-old, trained at Club Natació Sabadell, not only improved her result obtained four years ago in London, where she obtained the silver medal, but registered the fastest time so far this year, 2 minutes 4.85 seconds, beating Australian Maddie Groves by three hundredths of a second. World champion Natsumi Hoshi came third. Belmonte’s gold is to be added to the bronze in the women’s 400m individual medley on Saturday, which was also the first for Spain in any sport at Rio Olympics. The Catalan swimmer’s four medal career haul makes her Spain’s most successful swimmer.