EL PAÍS

El TC reitera que el Código catalán de Comercio no puede imponer esta lengua pero no anula articulado. El Tribunal Constitucional (TC) ha hecho pública este miércoles una segunda sentencia sobre el Código de Consumo de Cataluña que, al igual que la dictada el pasado mes de julio en relación con el recurso formulado por el Defensor del Pueblo, no anula su articulado si bien condiciona su constitucionalidad a que el derecho de los consumidores a ser atendidos en catalán se interprete conforme a la Carta Magna.

En esta ocasión la sentencia responde al recurso que también presentó contra el Código el Grupo Popular en el Congreso de los Diputados. Así, se declara la constitucionalidad del apartado 1 del artículo 128-1 -que prevé el derecho de los consumidores a ser atendidos oralmente y por escrito en la lengua que escojan- siempre que se interprete en los términos previstos en la sentencia. Deberá estarse a lo que en su momento se establezca en la legislación de desarrollo en cumplimiento del derecho de disponibilidad lingüística, según señala el tribunal de garantías.

La resolución reproduce jurisprudencia anterior para explicar que, en el ámbito de las relaciones entre particulares, la previsión contenida en el precepto no puede suponer la imposición del uso de cualquiera de las dos lenguas oficiales, pues el derecho que en él se proclama sólo puede ser exigible en las relaciones entre los poderes públicos y los ciudadanos. Consecuencia de ello es que, en el ámbito de las relaciones entre privados, tampoco cabe establecer un régimen sancionador frente a eventuales incumplimientos de la norma autonómica. (EP)</s>Quim Torra has been sworn in as the 131st president of Catalonia amid growing pressure over the “xenophobic” and anti-Spanish tone of his past writings and comments.



Torra, a hardline Catalan nationalist handpicked by the region’s deposed president, Carles Puigdemont, was elected by 66 votes to 65 on Monday and assumed office at a low-key ceremony in Barcelona on Thursday.

“I promise to loyally fulfil the duties of the post of regional president being faithful to the will of the Catalan people represented by the Catalan parliament,” he said, using the same formula as Puigdemont and avoiding mention of obeying the Spanish constitution. Central government representatives did not attend the ceremony.

Since his appointment the 55-year-old lawyer and editor has been dogged by accusations that he is Puigdemont’s puppet and that his long history of anti-Spanish comments makes him unfit to lead a government.



Six years ago, Torra wrote an article in which he described Spanish-speakers in Catalonia as “carrion-feeders, vipers and hyenas” who hated the Catalan language and culture and were “beasts in human form”.



“It is a sick phobia,” he wrote. “There is something Freudian in these beasts, a rough patch in their DNA.”

In a string of tweets written the same year, Torra suggested that “Spaniards know only how to plunder”, claimed that Catalonia had been under Spanish occupation since 1714 and said Spaniards had long since removed the word “shame” from the dictionary. He later apologised “if anyone was offended by the tweets”.

He has also been ridiculed for saying that Catalonia was suffering “a humanitarian crisis”.

Politicians including Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, and Pedro Sánchez, the leader of the opposition Socialist party, have criticised the “xenophobic nature” of his past pronouncements.

On Tuesday, a Catalan anti-racism group took Torra to task for repeatedly using “a dangerous, irresponsible and unacceptable discourse, based on prejudices”.

The Spanish justice ministry declined to comment on reports that prosecutors were looking into the possibility of bringing charges of racial hate crimes against Torra over his tweets and articles.

Although Torra has said he wants to hold talks with Rajoy, he insists that Puigdemont remains the “legitimate president” of Catalonia and has vowed to try to restore his predecessor’s sacked cabinet to their previous posts and push on with plans to create an independence republic.

The region has been under direct control from Madrid since the end of October last year, when Rajoy responded to Puigdemont’s unilateral independence referendum and the subsequent declaration of independence by firing the Catalan president and his cabinet and calling new elections.

However, Rajoy’s electoral gamble failed to pay off: the pro-independence bloc retained its parliamentary majority and Puigdemont, who remains in self-imposed exile in Germany, finally anointed Torra as his successor after efforts to install three other candidates, including himself, failed.



Torra’s closeness to Puigdemont and similarly firm stance on independence have not gone unnoticed.

A cartoon in El Mundo this week showed the former president as a fairy godmother, telling a Pinocchio-Torra puppet: “And if you’re really good, I’ll turn you into a real boy.”

Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Carlos III University in Madrid, said Torra was likely to prove a divisive choice both inside Catalonia and within the independence movement itself, and that Puigdemont had chosen him as a means of maintaining the current situation of tension and polarisation.

“It suits Puigdemont better because at the end of the day, it reinforces the idea of a stopgap presidency, which will be subordinate to his presidency in Berlin,” said Simón. “It’s about the idea of trying to restore the last government rather than trying to move things forward, like being a statue made of salt, paralysed and always looking backwards.”

Antonio Barroso, an analyst at the political risk advisory firm Teneo Intelligence, said Puigdemont was using Torra as a means to remain relevant at home and abroad and was “prioritising his own strategy over the unity of the pro-independence movement”.

Barroso said that Torra’s anti-Spanish declarations would damage the independence movement’s international image, with the president’s old articles being seized on by opponents of secession.

“The whole rhetoric of the independence movement says: ‘This is about democracy.’ But now the other side can say it’s not about democracy because clearly you have someone with ideas that try to exclude one part of the population.”

Some see the advent of Torra as proof that a latent strain of supremacism is seeping into the Catalan mainstream.

“Catalan nationalism has always been characterised by what you could call a ‘civic nationalism’; it’s always been based on integrating people who come into Catalonia and on a non-ethnic idea of who Catalans are,” said Pau Marí-Klose, a professor of sociology at the University of Zaragoza.

But the polarisation and radicalisation brought about by Puigdemont’s push for independence – and the Spanish authorities’ response to it – had “slightly opened the door” to Torra’s school of thought and reignited old feelings of resentment.

“The idea that Catalonia has been mistreated by Spain has gathered more and more momentum during the process and has somehow given rise to these very supremacist ideas: that anything Spanish is despicable; that Spanish culture is prone to authoritarianism and isn’t a truly European culture, whereas Catalan culture is,” said Marí-Klose.

“There’s a metaphor that you see, even in cartoons, of Spain as an abusive husband and Catalonia as the wife trying to leave the relationship but isn’t allowed … Torra feeds off that but that doesn’t mean that the majority of Catalans buy into these ideas.”</s>BARCELONA: Quim Torra, Catalonia's new separatist leader, was sworn in Thursday in a brief ceremony without central government representatives where he avoided promising to obey the constitution and pledged instead to follow "the will of the Catalan people."

"I promise to loyally fulfil the duties of the post of regional president being faithful to the will of the Catalan people represented by the Catalan parliament," he said, using the same formula as his predecessor and mentor Carles Puigdemont.

The 55-year-old did not promise to obey the statute that regulates Catalonia's autonomy either.

He appeared flanked only by a Catalan flag, without the traditional Spanish flag and portrait of the king that protocol states must be present, in a small side-room of the regional government building in Barcelona.

The ceremony marks the end of close to seven months of political limbo in this region of northeastern Spain which has been under direct rule from Madrid since it deposed Puigdemont after a failed declaration of independence on October 27.

Torra, a hardline separatist, was handpicked by Puigdemont, who is currently in Berlin awaiting potential extradition to Spain where he faces jail on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds.

He has stressed he is merely a "caretaker president" as he awaits the return of Puigdemont, whom he considers the "legitimate" leader, and has pledged to keep fighting for independence from Spain.

Torra's swearing-in ceremony only lasted a few minutes and the central government decided not to send any representatives in a sign of tensions between the two.

There were no representatives of political parties or civil society either, and only a few people close to Torra, regional parliamentary speaker Roger Torrent, a top regional government official and the head of Catalan police were present.

As a deferential gesture towards Puigdemont, Torra did not put on the medallion that regional presidents usually wear when they are sworn in.

But even before the ceremony, Torra drew controversy over a series of tweets and articles written over the past years deemed to show hate towards the Spanish.

He for instance described Spain as "a country that exports misery" and branded those who do not defend the Catalan language and culture "scavengers, vipers and hyenas."

Even anti-racism group SOS Racisme Catalunya waded in, saying his past discourse was "dangerous" and "based in prejudices."</s>Catalonia may or may not be having a Nawaz Sharif moment. The autonomous region in the north-east of Spain has ended the political stalemate that endured for the last seven months. For, after five failed attempts following local elections back in December, it has elected a new President.

The new man at the top is Quim Torra, whom the Centre views as a hardline separatist. Much in the same vein as his predecessor, Carles Puigdemont, who remains in self-exile in Germany. Indeed, the latter is responsible for unilaterally calling last October’s independence referendum; a move that Madrid still sees as unconstitutional. Thus Puigdemont risks arrest and imprisonment if he returns to Spain.

This is where the Nawaz comparisons spring to mind. Torra has outlined as a priority the drafting of a constitution for a future Catalan Republic as well as restoring regional laws that the Spanish courts suspended last year. But not before declaring that he is simply keeping the seat warm for the man under whose direction some two million Catalans voted to secede from the Centre. This is more than mere symbolism. Torra travelled to Berlin to officially take over the regional presidency from Puigdemont.

Indeed, the deposed Pakistani Prime Minister may even take inspiration of sorts from Torra’s very words. Especially when the latter points out that he would not have been in the present situation had democracy been respected. For Nawaz and his supporters have always made much of the fact that he was a popularly elected leader. Though the fact that following his dethroning from the premiership, Nawaz has been appointed the PMLN Quaid-for-life is where, for some, any similarity ends. For this is seen as having little to do with self-rule and everything to do with self-preservation.

Whereas the Catalonia question remains undoubtedly one of self-determination. Other separatist leaders are either in exile or else have already been jailed on charges of charges of “rebellion”. Meaning that the show of unity between Torra and Puigdemont is about resistance in the face of an aggressor nation. Yet by the same token, for Nawaz allies at least, the way in which the courts have gone after the King and all his men is tantamount to a witch-hunt.

Whatever the case may be, one thing is clear. Whether in Europe or in this part of the world — democracy is in crisis. A battle is being fought over which branch of the state wields the supreme authority. And it is a matter that needs to be resolved as expediently as possible. For the citizenries’ sake. *</s>BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Catalonia's hardcore separatists have found their new flag-bearer.

Quim Torra, a regional lawmaker and book editor with strong anti-Spanish views, was voted in as Catalonia's president Monday after he convinced the most uncompromising secessionists he would not flinch in his commitment to their cause.

A fervent Catalan nationalist, the 55-year-old former corporate lawyer was hand-picked by the region's fugitive former leader to carry on the work of carving out a new European state from northeastern Spain.

During Monday's investiture debate, Torra made clear his subservience to ex-Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition from Germany. Puigdemont fled Spain after Catalonia's Parliament made a unilateral and illegal declaration of independence in October and the Spanish government removed the regional Cabinet from office.

"Our president is Carles Puigdemont, and we will be faithful to the mandate of October...to build an independent state in the form of a republic," Torra, a member of the regional parliament, told the chamber based in Barcelona.

The independence drive in Catalonia has created Spain's deepest political crisis in decades and sent members of the previous administration to jail or like Puigdemont, to another country to avoid incarceration.

Laura Borras, a member of Puigdemont's inner circle of advisers, told The Associated Press that while Catalonia's new leader won't be a "puppet," his role is to act as a stand-in for the "legitimate president," who faces sedition charges in Spain.

"Quim (pronounced 'Kim') Torra brings together all the necessary requirements: he is very determined, absolutely committed to the independence cause, and he has started this adventure because of his complete loyalty to President Puigdemont," said Borras, who also is a regional lawmaker.

Puigdemont himself has called Torra's presidency "provisional." He told Italian newspaper La Stampa that Torra could call a new election as soon as October if "the Spanish state continues its persecution."

Torra, who holds a law degree and once worked as an insurance executive, has impeccable secessionist credentials of his own. He served as president of a leading grassroots separatist group and as director of a historical memory center with a nationalist bent.

With a wry smile, he expresses anti-Spanish views that political opponents view as extreme or even supremacist. Torra has apologized publicly in the past for insulting Spaniards in articles, interviews and social media posts.

Among the comments that caused offense were his observations that Spaniards "only know how to plunder" and "have eliminated the word 'shame' from their dictionary."

He also questioned the Catalan identity of Barcelona-born basketball player Pau Gasol and tennis star Rafael Nadal, who is from the Spanish island of Mallorca and speaks its local dialect of the Catalan language.

"They don't express the Catalan identity we want. They are more Spanish," Torra said of the popular athletes.

Some critics in Catalonia question Torra's suitability to govern the region's 7.5 million residents, most of whom have familial, cultural or sentimental connections to the rest of Spain. Polls show that voters are equally divided over secession.

"Millions of Catalans can feel absolutely excluded from what you propose as president," Xavier Domenech, the leader of leftist party Catalunya en Comu Podem, said Monday. "Seventy percent of Catalans feel that they are also Spanish."

Nor has Torra hidden the price he is willing to pay for a free Catalonia. He said in a 2011 interview that he hoped Spain would use military force to stop the Catalan secession movement because such a move would garner international sympathy.

"If Spain makes the mistake and sends in the tanks, we will win a lot," Torra said.

Neither the Spanish government nor the country's leading political parties has mentioned such drastic steps.

However, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned that he would not hesitate to fire another Catalan government if it broke the law.</s>MADRID (AP) — Lawmakers in Catalonia elected a fervent separatist as the new chief of the restive region Monday, ending a leadership vacuum of more than six months and setting the scene for more confrontations with the Spanish government.

Quim Torra, a former corporate lawyer who went on to lead a prominent pro-secession group, vowed to build an independent Catalan republic by working under the leadership of his fugitive predecessor, Carles Puigdemont.

Puigdemont is in Germany fighting extradition to Spain, where he is wanted for allegedly using public funds and orchestrating an "insurrection" to get the wealthy northeastern region around Barcelona to break away from Spain.

Torra was elected 66-65 in a second round vote after he failed to secure an absolute majority in the 135-strong Catalan Parliament over the weekend. Four lawmakers with the far-left anti-establishment CUP party abstained.

Separatist parties won a slim majority in a December regional parliamentary election. They faced a hard deadline next week to either form a new government in Catalonia or have another election called.

Immediately after winning the vote, Torra said one of the goals of his new government would be to reinstate Puigdemont as "the legitimate president" of Catalonia. The Spanish government removed Puigdemont and his Cabinet from office after the regional parliament passed an illegal declaration of independence in October.

"Our president is Carles Puigdemont, and we will be faithful to the mandate of October...to build an independent state in the form of a republic," Torra, 55, told the chamber based in Barcelona.

Torra also has promised to create a "state council in exile" and vowed to establish a constituent assembly to write the constitution for a new Catalan republic.

"Everybody will win rights with the republic," Torra told fellow lawmakers in a speech before the vote. "Nobody will lose rights. The republic is for everybody, no matter what they vote."

The Catalan separatist movement has caused the worst political and institutional crisis in Spain in decades.

Central authorities have been ruling Catalonia directly from Madrid since the regional government led by Puigdemont relied on the results of an outlawed Oct. 1 referendum to declare unilateral independence from Spain.

The national government has fired dozens of civil servants and closed a network of overseas offices that sought investments in Catalonia but also functioned as "diplomatic delegations" to bolster support for independence.

The unprecedented Spanish takeover is set to end when Torra is sworn in along with a new Catalan Cabinet. But Spanish authorities have warned that the national government could reassert its authority if the new regional government breaks the law again.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he didn't like what he had heard during Monday's investiture debate in the Catalan assembly. He said his judgment on Torra's appointment will depend on Torra's actions.

"We will bet on understanding and agreement in looking at the future," Rajoy told reporters in Segovia. "But I say this, and I mean it: I will make sure that the law, the Spanish Constitution and the rest of the legal system, are obeyed."

The prime minister's office announced meetings with the two leaders of the main opposition parties at the national level, Socialist Party Secretary General Pedro Sanchez and the pro-business Ciudadanos (Citizens) party's Albert Rivera.

Both leaders' supported authorizing Rajoy's conservative cabinet to take direct control of Catalonia's affairs last year.

Rivera, who is experiencing a wave of popularity in recent opinion polls that are placing his party ahead of the ruling Popular Party, has urged Rajoy to extend the takeover.

Polls show that Catalonia's 7.5 million residents are evenly divided on whether the region should secede from Spain. A great majority wants to settle the issue in a referendum, which under current law only the central government can set.

Torra was the fourth candidate put forward by the two main pro-independence parties. Spain's Constitutional Court suspended a law that would have allowed self-exiled leader Puigdemont to be considered in absentia.

A former regional minister became ineligible to serve when he was jailed for his role into last year's independence bid. A separatist activist also couldn't be elected because he wasn't allowed to leave prison.</s>Quim Torra, Catalonia's new separatist leader, was sworn in Thursday during a brief ceremony without central government representatives in which he avoided promising to obey the constitution and pledged instead to follow "the will of the Catalan people".

The ceremony marks the end of nearly seven months of political limbo in the northeastern Spanish region, which has been under direct rule from Madrid since the central government deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont following a failed declaration of independence on October 27.

"I promise to loyally fulfil the duties of the post of regional president being faithful to the will of the Catalan people represented by the Catalan parliament," Torra said as he was sworn in, using the same formula as his predecessor and mentor Puigdemont.

The 55-year-old did not promise to obey the Constitution nor the statute that regulates Catalonia's autonomy.

He appeared flanked only by a Catalan flag, without the traditional Spanish flag and portrait of the king that protocol states must be present, in a small side-room of the regional government building in Barcelona.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis criticised the ceremony, saying it done "on the sly", as if Torra "were a second-rate president".

The hardline separatist Torra was handpicked by Puigdemont, who is currently in Berlin awaiting potential extradition to Spain, where he faces jail on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds.

He has stressed he is merely a "caretaker president" as he awaits the return of Puigdemont, whom he considers the "legitimate" leader, and has pledged to keep fighting for independence from Spain.

Torra's swearing-in ceremony only lasted a few minutes and the central government decided not to send any representatives in a sign of tensions between the two.

There were no representatives of political parties or civil society either.

As a deferential gesture towards Puigdemont, Torra did not put on the medallion that regional presidents usually wear when they are sworn in.

Now Torra needs to form a government, a prerequisite for Madrid to lift direct rule.

But this isn't assured as Torra has said he wants to reintegrate deposed regional ministers into his government, many of whom are either in preventative custody for their role in the secession drive or in self-exile like Puigdemont.

If the Spanish government decides this is illegal, it could maintain direct rule over the region as requested by centre-right party Ciudadanos, whose hardline stance towards the Catalan crisis has resounded in Spain.

The party is now threatening to overtake Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party in regional and municipal elections next year.

In the more immediate future, however, Rajoy needs the support of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in parliament to approve the 2018 budget.

The PNV wants Madrid to lift direct rule as it strongly supports regional autonomy and is sympathetic to the Catalan cause.

Caught between the two, Rajoy has pledged to watch Torra closely and maintain control over regional finances to avoid public money going to any separatist initiatives, and has also said he is willing to meet the Catalan leader.

Meanwhile, another battle is going on in the courts, with 25 separatist leaders being investigated for rebellion or other offences, nine of whom are in preventative custody and another seven abroad.

On Wednesday, a Belgian judge rejected the extradition request of three former Catalan ministers due to irregularities in the arrest warrants, dealing a blow to Spain.

A court in Germany has also rejected extraditing Puigdemont to Spain for rebellion, a very serious charge that implies violence took place and which many legal experts have discarded.

The court is still considering whether to hand him over to Spain on the lesser charge of misuse of public funds.

Faced with these setbacks, Spain's Supreme Court has said it is was considering replacing rebellion with sedition, which does not imply violence took place and is less severe.</s>A supporter of Catalan secession has become the new leader of the restive region in Spain, in a ceremony that didn't mention any loyalty to the Spanish constitution or the Spanish king, El Pais reports.

Catalonia's stymied bid for independence last fall has triggered a monthslong deadlock — a crisis that sometimes feels like it's unfolding in slow motion.

Spain dissolved the regional government after ousting separatist regional President Carles Puigdemont and other leaders. Madrid had direct control of the region for months.

Now, Quim Torra's swearing-in brings an end to that era — but signals that there's no end in sight to the larger separatist fight.

In February, NPR's Lauren Frayer recapped the story so far:

"Catalonia has its own language and culture, and has long sought autonomy from the rest of Spain. It's Spain's richest region, and when the country's economic crisis hit a decade ago, many Catalans began to resent their tax money subsidizing poorer parts of Spain. Separatist politics moved from the fringe to the mainstream. ... "This past autumn saw turmoil in Catalonia and its regional capital Barcelona, with daily street protests, general strikes and violence at polling stations Oct. 1, when separatists held an illegal independence vote and the central government deployed riot police to halt it. Madrid imposed emergency rule, firing local lawmakers and forcing fresh elections. "Carles Puigdemont, the ex-president, went into exile in Belgium. Several of his aides went to jail. "Tourism slumped. Thousands of companies moved their bases — at least on paper — out of Catalonia and into neighboring regions deemed more stable. "After all that, Catalans voted in December for virtually the same regional parliament: A slim majority, 70 of 135 seats, was voted in for separatist parties. A quirky electoral system means rural votes count more than urban ones. But opinion polls show Catalans are roughly divided 50-50 on the question of independence."

With the secessionists back in power, Puidgemont first proposed governing Catalonia from exile, via Skype. That idea didn't fly. Then he suggested a pro-secession candidate, but he was disqualified because he was jailed by Madrid. An alternate leader was proposed, and promptly arrested by Spanish authorities.

Finally Puidgemont nominated Torra, who shares his separatist goals and had the advantage of being neither exiled nor incarcerated.

Torra says he intends to put Puidgemont back in power, Reuters reports. "I see myself as a caretaker president," Torra said, according to the wire service.

Torra was narrowly elected as the region's new regional leader, on Monday, El Pais reports.

His swearing-in included the Catalan flag but not the Spanish flag, and no members of the Spanish central government attended.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Madrid are considering charging Torra with hate speech for his allegedly xenophobic statements about Spaniards. The remarks include calling people "beasts" and saying that the Spanish "know only how to plunder," The Guardian reports.</s>CATALUÑA’S 131st President is set to formally begin his first day in the post following an inauguration ceremony today.

Quim Torra, of the separatist Junts per Catalunya party (JxCat), will be invested into the office at what will reportedly be a low-key ceremony.

It will take place at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona, which houses the presidency’s administrative offices.

Torra said he wanted the ceremony to reflect a situation of “exceptionality and sadness.” This is due to number of former Catalan politicians currently in custody and abroad in the wake of last year’s independence push, he added.

The new president will also be exempt from swearing allegiance to the Spanish King and Constitution, using a legal loophole his predecessor Carles Puigdemont (JxCat) also found when taking office. He will instead reportedly take an oath to serve the “will of the people of Cataluña.”

The ceremony will also have to depart from another tradition of giving the previous office holder the presidential medal.

Puigdemont is currently in Germany awaiting a court decision on whether he will be extradited to Spain to face charges in connection with last year’s independence referendum and declaration.

Torra travelled to Berlin to hold a joint press conference with Puigdemont on Tuesday. He said on Twitter the two had spoke about plans for the new administration and offering the Spanish government “unconditional and bilateral dialogue” on the Cataluña independence question.

The new Catalan President was selected by the region’s Parliament for the post by a margin of one vote.

He said after his victory in the ballot his administration would work in the interests of all Catalans.

“We do not want a uniform Cataluña, but one united in diversity. It should be a republic of all rights, where all enjoy the fullness of rights,” he said.

Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s Prime Minister and leader of the conservative Partido Popular, said he hoped for “understanding and concord” with the new President. He added in reference to jailed and wanted Catalan politicians that he must comply with the law.</s>Catalan MPs elect fervent separatist who pledges to reinstate Puigdemont as the legitimate president

Catalan MPs have elected a fervent separatist as the new chief of the region, ending a leadership vacuum of more than six months and setting the scene for more confrontations with the Spanish government. Quim Torra, 55, a former corporate lawyer who went on to lead a prominent pro-secession group, vowed to build an independent Catalan republic by working under the leadership of his fugitive predecessor, Carles Puigdemont.

Puigdemont is in Germany fighting extradition to Spain, where he is wanted for allegedly using public funds and orchestrating an “insurrection” to get the wealthy north-eastern region around Barcelona to break away from Spain.

Mr Torra was elected 66-65 in a second round vote after he failed to secure an absolute majority in the 135-strong Catalan parliament over the weekend. Four MPs with the far-left anti-establishment CUP party abstained.

Immediately after his election, Mr Torra said one of the goals of his new government would be to reinstate Mr Puigdemont as “the legitimate president” of Catalonia. The Spanish government removed Mr Puigdemont and his Cabinet from office after the regional parliament passed an illegal declaration of independence in October.

“Our president is Carles Puigdemont, and we will be faithful to the mandate of October… to build an independent state in the form of a republic,” Mr Torra told the chamber in Barcelona.

 Mr Torra also has promised to create a “state council in exile” and vowed to establish a constituent assembly to write the constitution for a new Catalan republic.

“Everybody will win rights with the republic,” Mr Torra told fellow MPs in a speech before the vote.

“Nobody will lose rights. The republic is for everybody, no matter what they vote.”

The Catalan separatist movement has caused the worst political and institutional crisis in Spain in decades.

Central authorities have been ruling Catalonia directly from Madrid since the regional government led by Mr Puigdemont relied on the results of an outlawed October 1 referendum to declare unilateral independence from Spain.

The national government has sacked dozens of civil servants and closed a network of overseas offices that sought investments in Catalonia but also functioned as “diplomatic delegations” to bolster support for independence.

The unprecedented Spanish takeover is set to end when Mr Torra is sworn in along with a new Catalan cabinet. But Spanish authorities have warned that the national government could reassert its authority if the new regional government breaks the law again.
Quim Torra is sworn in as the 131st President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, 200 days after the cessation of the government of Puigdemont and the direct rule. He does not swear on the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy, but rather on "the will of the people of Catalonia".