He president of the GeneralitatPere Aragonesehas defended in Dublin (Ireland) his trading strategy with the Government of Pedro Sánchez: “We have started a negotiation with the Government”. “We think that independence is not only possible but necessary, and the best way, given the experience we have, is to press for an agreement,” he explained this Thursday in an interview on RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland’s public radio.
Aragonese He began his visit to Ireland this Thursday: in the afternoon he met with the former Prime Minister of Ireland bertie ahernand this Friday he will do it with the leaders of the Sinn Fein Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill. The president has denied that the current situation is going back “to the starting box” after 1-O, and has assured that he is working to broaden support for independence in Catalonia and forge international alliances. “Now, a dialogue process has started and the first steps were to free the people who were in prison,” he stressed.
Asked about the espionage of the independence movement with Pegasusthe president has regretted that the State uses “non-peaceful or incorrect methods” from the National Intelligence Center (CNI), which recognized the wiretapping of pro-independence leaders like himself, he said.
no government meeting
On whether he will meet any members of the Irish Government during his visit, Aragonese He has detailed that at the moment he has no meeting scheduled with members of the national Executive, although he has said that “they are talking with them.” Asked why he believes that no meeting has been scheduled, Aragonès replied: “Sometimes the Spanish government puts some pressure on it. I don’t know if that is the case. But we are open to meeting with anyone who is interested in the situation in Catalonia” .
The president pointed out that the visit to Ireland and the meeting with Ahern will allow him to see first-hand “a good negotiating experience, since the actions of the former prime minister were key in the peace process in Northern Ireland. In addition, he stated that the Generalitat also wants to strengthen economic relations with Ireland, and has shown its interest in the energy transition formulas that the country is deploying and in the process that led to the recognition of Irish as an official language of the European Union.
For her part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Catalonia, Meritxell Serret, reported this Thursday that the Generalitat will create the figure of the “territorial envoy” in the Republic of Ireland to strengthen relations with this country, “especially after Brexit”. Serret made these statements to the media at the beginning of a two-day visit to Dublin, where he accompanies Aragonès.
‘Catalan embassies’
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The counselor indicated that this “territorial envoy“will be a dependent figure of the delegation in the United Kingdom, although the long-term objective is to create a permanent one in Ireland, a “properly Government delegation”. “We want to strengthen all those necessary relationships and that we believe we can build with Ireland “, Serret explained about a country that, after Brexit, “has also gained prominence at the level of social and economic relations.” From Catalonia, the leader pointed out, “there has always been a certain relationship” with Ireland, also with a “cultural” vocation and tourism”, which is why the creation of this mission in Dublin is aimed at “strengthening all these relationships”.
The Catalan government currently has 13 fully functioning ‘autonomous embassies’, the majority in European countries, and there are another seven that were created by decree but are still in the process of development. The latter are found in Japan, Andorra, Brazil -countries where there is already a delegate- and in the American South Cone, Senegal, Southern Africa and South Korea, which still do not have a delegate or structure.