albiol

Spanish Foreign Affairs minister condemn comments as "unfortunate"

While Cs wants investiture debate called off, Spanish justice minister admits it is valid and “will go ahead”

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría boasted that it’s thanks to ‘Mariano Rajoy and the PP’ that pro-independence forces are ‘headless’

France would have “done the same,” Manuel Valls says referring to Article 155

"We’ll turn sadness into energy, and we won’t stop until you’re free," says Catalan Parliament president Carme Forcadell

Xavier García Albiol says TV3 is not plural and journalist are studying possible lawsuit against him

‘Diàleg Republicà’ is Junqueras’ backup plan after recent People’s Party calls to ban pro-independence manifestos

During the pre-campaign inaugural event, the head of PP in Catalonia also "thanked" Rajoy for implementing Article 155

The PP leader in Catalonia, Xavier García Albiol, says they seek to ‘destroy Spain’

Catalan Parliament Bureau expected to decide on August 16 whether to allow the bill to be discussed in plenary session

Latest developments over the October 1 independence referendum draw further attention from top international media

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, is suspicious regarding Spain’s executive willingness to dialogue. During this Wednesday’s session of control in the Parliament, Puigdemont stated that Catalonia deserves a bilateral negotiation with the Government in Madrid and that he considers anything other than this a way to “dilute and disguise what is really going on” in Catalonia and therefore “confuse public opinion”. Pro-independence radical left CUP MP, Mireia Boya, went a bit further and urged Puigdemont not to go along with Spain’s “siren calls” in relation to its supposed openness to dialogue. On the other hand, Xavier García Albiol, the leader of the Catalan branch of Spain’s governing party PP, called for Puigdemont not to be like “a statue” before the “signals” sent by the Spanish Government. 

The Spanish Government appointed this Friday former spokesman of the Catalan branch of the governing People’s Party, Enric Millo, as the new delegate of the Spanish executive in Catalonia. Millo will substitute Maria de los Llanos de Luna after a term of office which has been defined by tensions between the two governments. According to the Spanish Government’s Spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, the replacement aims to show the “negotiating disposition” of the new Spanish executive. “People are important, but disposition and willingness are even more so”, stated Méndez de Vigo before the press. Millo started his career in the Parliament in 1995 representing Christian Democrat ‘Unió’. In 2003 he joined PPC and since 2010 he has been the party’s spokesman in the Catalan Chamber.

The magistrates of the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) have unanimously declared the Parliament's declaration of independence unconstitutional and, therefore, invalid. The TC has considered that the agreed pro-independence proposal approved by the Parliament on the 9^th of November violates core articles of the Spanish Constitution, such as "the indivisible unity of Spain" and "the subjection of the public powers to the law" and also "attacks the Rule of Law". The TC has made its decision only 22 days after the appeal presented by the Spanish executive was accepted, which makes this resolution the fastest in the TC's history. On the other hand, the appeals against Spanish Government's abortion reform, led by People's Party (PP), are waiting for a resolution since 2010.  

MEPs from eight different parties asked the European Commission to urge Spain to investigate and judge the crimes committed during Franco’s dictatorship. “Justice doesn’t expire. We don’t aim for vengeance but reparation”stated Catalan left-wing ERC-NeCAT MEP Ernest Maragall on Tuesday at a joint press conference in Strasbourg. Maragall was joined by Catalan MEPs from ERC-NeCAT, liberal party CDC, left-wing ICV and christian democrat UDC, as well as MEPs from Basque nationalist PNB and Bildu and alternative left-wing Spanish parties Compromís and Podemos. They wrote a joint declaration which stated that “the principle of universal justice makes impossible the impunity of the crimes”committed during Francoism and “forces the State to judge those who were responsible”. “This is not about opening wounds but to close them”stated PodemosMEP Miguel Urbán.