This Week in Catalonia: Sunday 5th-Saturday 11th May 2019
This is the first edition of what I hope will become a regular feature.
Sunday May 5th
[image error]
The main headline on Sunday was that the Spanish Constitutional Court would set limits for the application of Article 155 in Catalonia. The Constitutional Court says it supports the suspension of Catalan autonomy in 2017 but thinks the use of Article 155 should be reserved for serious incidents. The court also debated whether it was appropriate to dissolve Parliament.
The main photo shows defeated Partido Popular leader Pablo Casado with the President of Galicia Albert Nuñez Feijóo. It seems that Casado has been told by the strongest figure on the moderate wing of the party that he should stop flirting with Vox’s “far right” ideas and concentrate on winning back support from more centrist voters, who have been captured by Ciudadanos.
Monday May 6th
[image error]
On Monday, the news was that the Supreme Court had given exiled former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont permission to be a candidate for the European Parliament and sent the case back to the Madrid tribunal for the ex-president’s appeal to be resolved immediately. The Lliures per Europa (Junts) was confident that the JEC’s veto will be revoked today.
Other news mentions that Justice Minister, Carmen Delgado had walked out of meeting in Mauthausen because a member of the Catalan government had referred former Catalan Foreign Minister Raül Romeva as a “political prisoner”.
The bottom piece tells us that Pedro Sánchez would be starting the first round of meetings with the leaders of other parties in order to reach agreements for the investiture vote that will allow him to form a government.
The photo is titled Rain of Bombs and shows the effects of a recent escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I obviously have my opinion on this but will be commenting relatively little on these kind of issues on this channel.
Tuesday May 7th
[image error]
The main headline and phote refer to the fact that Sánchez and Casado are about open the route to dialogue over Catalonia as the president and the head of the opposition restart their relationship nine months later. The PP leader asked for a pact with Cs and not with the independence parties because he wants Ciudadanos, his rival for the centre right vote, to be seen as leftist collaborators.
Other news is that the Supreme Court have ruled that Puigdemont can be a candidate in the EU elections but that the Partido Popular will appeal the decision to the Constitutional Court.
The final headline is that Spanish employment figure have reached pre-crisis levels but there are fewer industrial jobs.
Wednesday May 8th
[image error]
The main news was that Sánchez would confirm Pablo Iglesias, leader of the left-wing Podemos party, as his preferred partner in government.
Yesterday, he showed how his relationship with the main parties would be with PP and Cs as opposition and Podemos as an ally . He finished the first round satisfied that a stable government would be possible.
The photo shows a picture of FC Barcelona’s 4-0 defeat in Anfield against Liverpool, which will mean they fail to reach the Champions League final yet again.
Simon Harris's Blog
- Simon Harris's profile
- 8 followers

