Spanish Minister of Interior changes tack

After the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont decided to unilaterally convene Catalonia’s Security Commission on July 3, the Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, yesterday decided to tone down the comments made by his second in command, Jose Antonio Nieto, who had recently stated that the referendum process did not precipitate the “climate of trust” necessary to meet the criteria for the convening of the bilateral commission. Following Puigdemont’s announcement, Nieto also termed the conflict a “storm in a teacup”.

However, after a letter from the Catalan minister Jordi Jané and in response to ERC’s parliamentary spokesman Gabriel Rufián, Zoido decided to change tack, claiming that his initial refusal to the July 3 meeting was due only to matters of agenda and a meeting of EU ministers. He offered to negotiate a suitable date for the meeting and his offer was immediately accepted by Puigdemont and Jané.

The Catalan minister did however state that the meeting could not be postponed for long as there were important issues at state for both parties, including the Generalitat’s decision to create 500 new positions in the Catlan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra. “We cannot wait any longer,” he said. The commission has not met since 2009.