Spain’s Catalan President Quim Torra to make statement at noon

THE President of Catalonia’s separatist government, Quim Torra, will make an institutional statement at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona at noon today (January 29).

The statement comes two days after the Catalan Parliament stripped Torra of his seat and credentials as President of the government, in compliance with a decision made by the Supreme Court (TS) and the Central Electoral Board (JEC).

Torra, who took over as regional president in May 2018 at the head of a coalition made up of Catalonia’s two main separatist parties, JxC (Together for Catalonia) and the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), lost his status as a lawmaker in the region’s parliament following a disagreement between the chamber’s two main pro-independence parties.

Tensions were rife at the end of last year when a court in Barcelona found the politician guilty of disobedience for refusing to remove pro-independence propaganda from the façade of his government’s building during an election campaign in 2018. A Court subsequently banned Torra from holding public office for 18 months.

Although Torra has appealed the conviction, the electoral commission ordered the Catalan Parliament to implement the suspension immediately and on Monday, January 27, the parliament’s presiding council accepted that Mr Torra should be stripped of his seat.

As Euro Weekly News understands, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced his intentions to meet with Torra on February 6 in Barcelona.