Catalan News Agency - Puigdemont: “Spanish executive tries to counteract our explanations abroad”
Puigdemont: “Spanish executive tries to counteract our explanations abroad”
Sara Prim
London (CNA).- Catalan President Carles Puigdemont’s
official trip to London “allowed the Catalan government to give
explanations” to several “European agents” and “refutes the Spanish
mantra, according to which the Catalan process doesn’t interest
anybody”, stated Puigdemont. According to the Catalan President,
Catalonia’s political process generates so much interest that “even the
Spanish government has sent people to travel thousands of kilometres in
order to counteract” the explanations that the Catalan government has
been giving “first hand”. “It would be much cheaper for them to travel
to Barcelona and discuss which agreement we can reach in order to give
an answer to the democratic will of thousands of people”, he added.
Puigdemont made these statements while visiting the headquarters of the
Catalan bank ‘Banc de Sabadell’, in the City.
“We evaluate this trip very positively”, assured Puigdemont before
the press. According to the Catalan President, all the meetings held
during his official trip have approached one of the main objectives of
the Government’s agenda, which is “to explain” the situation in
Catalonia “first hand”. “We want the European agents, which are not only
political but also economic, to get to know what is going on in
Catalonia, why it is going on and what we plan to do in the following
months” he explained and emphasised the importance of “having direct
access to the Catalan government’s intentions”.
The Catalan President explained that he met with a financial forum in
the City attended by representatives from several financial
institutions and investment funds which are “interested in Catalonia’s
political process”, as well as “with Catalan and non-Catalan companies
which have interests in the UK” and “different communities here which
are interested in what’s going on in Catalonia and in getting to know it
first-hand”
Spain “counteracts” the Government’s explanations
Puigdemont emphasised that Catalonia’s push for independence and the
possibility of becoming an independent state “generates much interest”
at an international scale and “refutes the Spanish mantra, according to
which the Catalan process doesn’t interest anybody”. Such is the
interest that “even the Spanish government has sent people to travel
thousands of kilometres in order to counteract these explanations” that
the Catalan Government is giving “first hand”. “It would be much cheaper
for them to travel to Barcelona and discuss which agreement we can
reach in order to give an answer to the democratic will of thousands of
people”, he concluded.
For his part, current Spanish Vice-President Soraya Sáenz de
Santamaría admitted these actions of the Spanish government in order to
“explain” the situation in Catalonia and counterpart the
pro-independence speech. She justified this by saying that “everybody is
very surprised to hear some things that President Puigdemont and the
members of his government usually say”. According to Sáenz de
Santamaría, both President Puigdemont and former Catalan President Artur
Mas are “prone to travelling and explaining things not as they are”.
Thus, it is “normal” for the Spanish government to “explain it to other
countries which may not know Spain’s constitutional framework”, she
concluded.
Puigdemont interviewed by CNBC
Puigdemont was also interviewed in London by the North American TV
channel CNBC. During the conversation, the Catalan President admitted
that Spain’s “incapacity to govern the complexity and find smart
solutions creates many worries not only in Spain but in Europe”. He
explained that Catalonia “already takes decisions in a sovereign way,
independently from what happens in the central government or Spanish
parties”.
Puigdemont stated that Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy “has been a
problem” so far but also that he doesn’t see “political parties ready to
make big sacrifices to move forward with the government” in Spain nor
to “offer an agreement that would respect the wishes of the people of
Catalonia”.
Puigdemont also insisted that “a unilateral declaration of
independence is not the best solution” and that the Catalan government
plan is to reach “an agreement to consult over the independence of
Catalonia. And we will not abandon this plan until the end”.
Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, looking at London's skyline from 'Banc Sabadell' headquarters in The City
