(Madrid) Members of the party of Catalan independence leader Carles Puigdemont, who has taken refuge in Belgium since 2017, and socialists from the PSOE, the formation of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, met on Saturday in Switzerland, the Catalan party said in a press release.
This meeting, the first since the agreement by which Together for Catalonia (JuntsXCat) allowed, with its seven deputies, the inauguration of Mr. Sánchez for a new mandate on November 16, took place “in a cordial atmosphere and work,” said the Catalan party.
“Everything went well,” PSOE number three Santos Cerdán, who represented his party at the meeting, told the press.
The Catalan party did not specify whether Mr. Puigdemont, who is an MEP and moved to Belgium after the failed secession attempt, had attended the meeting.
JuntsXCat also announced that the Salvadoran diplomat Francisco Galindo Vélez, who served as his country’s ambassador to France, participated in the meeting and will be “the one who will coordinate the international mechanism that is part of the political agreement”, a mediator presence that the secessionists had requested.
The fact that the meeting took place outside Spain fueled the opposition’s already virulent criticism of Mr. Sánchez.
The agreement with Mr. Puigdemont has already given rise to numerous oppositions. A new demonstration against this agreement is to take place on Sunday in Madrid, at the call of the conservative Popular Party (PP).
In exchange for its support for Mr. Sánchez, Mr. Puigdemont’s party obtained a commitment on the adoption of an amnesty law for separatists pursued by the courts, as well as the opening of negotiations on “recognition nationality of Catalonia”.