• TSJ of Catalonia. Justice closes six Catalan 'embassies' while Pedro Sanchez allows to open another three
  • Politics: Pedro Sánchez now allows Quim Torra to open the 'embassies' abroad that Josep Borrell vetoed
  • Newspaper Archive: The Constitutional Unanimously agrees to suspend the external action plan of the Generalitat of Catalonia

The new policy of dialogue with Quim Torra and of «dejudicialization of the conflict» that the Government of Pedro Sánchez is carrying out after its agreement with ERC has also reached one of the issues that caused the most clashes between the Executive of Spain and the Generalitat the last legislature: the famous embassies of the Government .

The Government has now given its approval to the opening of the delegations of the Generalitat in Argentina , Mexico and Tunisia . The same ones that Josep Borrell prevented them from opening when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs thanks to the resources he filed before the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC).

Today, Moncloa no longer has "any objection" to the new decrees of the Government that create these new delegations abroad and that were approved last Tuesday.

The cessation of hostilities is reflected in the actions of both parties, not only from Madrid . On this occasion, the Government of Quim Torra has informed Exteriors of the text of the decrees before approving them. And the department that now runs Arancha González Laya has submitted allegations that the Generalitat accepted as is, without even negotiating them, according to Foreign Affairs.

Of course, the new decrees of the Generalitat were approved with Margarita Robles as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in office and before the appointment of González Laya as new minister.

In addition, sources from the Executive remind in conversation with EL MUNDO that it may again request judicially the closing of the delegations at any time if they consider that their activity «violates the legality or is contrary to the interests of Spain».

The opening of these three delegations of the Generalitat abroad had been suspended by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) in November at the request of the Government, which challenged the decrees on the grounds that its authentic objective was to promote theses outside Spain of Catalan independence.

That resource was admitted by TSJC, which also accepted the precautionary measures claimed by Foreign Affairs and that prevented the opening of delegations. After the judicial blow, the Generalitat reworded the decrees.

But this time previously informed Foreign of its content, as explained by the Ministry. Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ended up incorporating the requests made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that these offices did not produce "interference in the foreign policy of the State," as explained yesterday who was then acting minister, Margarita Robles.

Speaking to reporters, Robles explained Friday that the Government met the requirements made by the Government "by telling him that he could not have delegations that made foreign policy, but that they had to limit themselves to those aspects of a commercial, cultural and of another type ».

The new decrees approved by the Generalitat and published yesterday no longer speak of "bilateral relations" of Catalonia with these countries and assume that the Catalan law of External Action must be interpreted in accordance with the ruling of the Constitutional Court that ruled on it. The texts say that the «institutional representation» of the Government will be developed «in relation to the matters that are the responsibility of the Generalitat or of interest for Catalonia». After these corrections were included, Foreign Affairs ruled that "the Government has no objections to their literalness."

While this change was known in the Government's relations with the Government, the justice annulled yesterday the package of embassies that the Generalitat opened in 2018. The TSJC estimated the appeal lodged by the central Executive and annulled the decree of the Government of June of 2018 whereby the delegations of the Generalitat in the United Kingdom and Ireland , Germany , the United States , Italy , Switzerland and France are restored. In addition, it imposes on the Catalan administration the payment of the applicant's costs up to a limit of 2,000 euros.

With the political support of the Government in hand, the Generalitat hastened yesterday to say that it will not comply with the annulment made by the TSJC. According to External Action, this decree was replaced by the approval in September 2019 of six new ones that regulate these six delegations and that "nobody has contested." That is why they ensure that the sentence does not require the closure of any delegation of the Generalitat.

As soon as the turn of Foreign Affairs was known, the PP requested the appearance of the minister in Congress to explain the change in criteria. Teodoro García Egea explained that it is about knowing if the opening of new offices abroad is part of the "payment of Sánchez to the independentistas" for the investiture. For its part, Citizens presented a bill to "guarantee the coordination, cooperation and institutional loyalty of the autonomous communities in the development of the State's external action".

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  • Catalonia independence
  • Spain
  • Margarita Robles
  • Catalonia
  • Madrid
  • Quim Torra
  • constitutional Court
  • Citizens
  • Arancha González Laya
  • Josep Borrell
  • Politics
  • ERC

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