During a highly anticipated meeting with Catalonia’s pro-independence president, Quim Torra, on Monday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez promised to improve the region’s existing self-government but refused to negotiate the staging of a referendum on secession. Meanwhile, Torra, who was handpicked by Puigdemont as his successor, continues to publicly defend the outcome of the illegal referendum of October 1 and the right to self-determination through a referendum similar to the one held in Scotland in 2014.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Quim Torra, meet officially in Moncloa. It is the first time since the beginning of the crisis that a Spanish Prime Minister and a Catalan President meet.