‘Catalonia won’t ignore result of indy vote’, says speaker of parliament

Greg Russell @MediaNetScotJournalist



Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena denied a request to free former minsters from jail

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THE Speaker of the Catalan Parliament has said the government is beginning to return to normal, but it will not ignore the result of the October 1 referendum, which saw more than 90% of voters supporting independence.

In an exclusive interview, Roger Torrent told The National the starting point for any discussion about the future of the wealthy north-eastern state would have to see the restoration of “political legitimacy” to the government.


“There are the tools on the one hand and political legitimacy on the other. October 1 saw political legitimacy given to the government to draw the future scenario for Catalonia,” he said.


“But after October 1 there was the application of Article 155 [direct rule from Madrid] that eliminated many things that we had fought institutionally for, such as external representation.

“Now we are going to recover all that 155 took away and we will work in the direction that was marked politically by the [referendum] result.

“The first thing is from an institutional point of view to recover all the instruments that the Generalitat of Catalonia lost – self-government in our country – and to recover the situation in relation to what happened on October 1.”

Another sign of normality returning came from Foreign Minister Ernest Maragall, who announced in Brussels – the only functioning Catalan delegation office – moves to re-establish others that Spain had shut down would be made within weeks. The offices are in London, New York, Washington, Rome, Berlin and Switzerland.

However, in another development the bete noire of the indy movement Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena, left, denied a request to free former Speaker Carme Forcadell and former ministers Oriol Junqueras and Raul Romeva.

He also refused to make a decision on transferring the political prisoners from Madrid jails to Catalan institutions – and instead passed responsibility to prison bosses.

However, Spain’s Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, passed it back to Llarena and, in a radio interview, appeared to suggest some of them could be transferred: “If this person does not need to be required five or six months, and whenever there is a judicial authorisation, a transfer can be evaluated to facilitate personal and family life.”


Torrent, meanwhile, was dismissive of the new government of Socialist Pedro Sanchez, saying “from a political view” he had little hopes.

He said: “The Catalan representation in the Spanish parliament could only vote for the impeachment process because it [People’s Party] was a corrupt party in the Spanish state. It was a party that used political repression against the Catalan parties, the Catalan population and political leaders.

“The Socialist Party participated in this repressive way of thinking and voted for the application of Article 155.”

He said any discussion with the Spanish Government on Catalonia’s future, would have to be open: “To be coherent, consistent and logical, the political dialogue cannot have any limitations, it cannot be restrictive…