In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP) less

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The ... more

Catalan regional president, Quim Torra talks during a news conference after his meeting with Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez, unseen, in Madrid, Monday, July 9, 2018.

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP) less

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The ... more

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP) less

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The ... more

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP) less

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The ... more

MADRID (AP) — Spain's Supreme Court is stripping six prominent Catalan politicians of public office for trying to make the northeastern region of the country independent.

Judge Pablo Llarena also ruled Tuesday that the six secessionists be sent to trial on charges of rebellion, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Those charged include former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition from Germany, and former regional Vice President Oriol Junqueras.

Llarena left it up to the Catalan regional parliament, where the rebellion defendants now are lawmakers, whether to replace them.

Llarena was tasked with investigating what took place in Catalonia in October, when Puigdemont's government disobeyed a court ban on holding a secession vote and the regional parliament unilaterally declared independence.

The events triggered Spain's most severe political crisis in decades. </s> MADRID (AP) - Spain's Supreme Court is stripping six prominent Catalan politicians of public office for trying to make the northeastern region of the country independent.

Judge Pablo Llarena also ruled Tuesday that the six secessionists be sent to trial on charges of rebellion, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Those charged include former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition from Germany, and former regional Vice President Oriol Junqueras.

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP)

Llarena left it up to the Catalan regional parliament, where the rebellion defendants now are lawmakers, whether to replace them.

Llarena was tasked with investigating what took place in Catalonia in October, when Puigdemont's government disobeyed a court ban on holding a secession vote and the regional parliament unilaterally declared independence.

The events triggered Spain's most severe political crisis in decades.

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP)

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP)

In this photo made available by Presidencia del Gobierno on Monday, July 9, 2018, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaks with Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, at the Moncloa palace in Madrid. The new heads of Spain and Catalonia have agreed on opening a bilateral dialogue over the future of the northeastern prosperous region in the first breakthrough in the years-long political standoff between the central and regional governments. (Pool Moncloa via AP) </s> MADRID (AP) — The new heads of Spain's central and Catalonia's regional governments are holding talks for the first time since yearnings for independence in the northeastern region led to an unprecedented political crisis last year.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has welcomed Catalan President Quim Torra on Monday in the Moncloa Palace, the seat of the national government in Madrid.

Torra says a legal referendum on Catalonia's independence as the only way out of the deadlock, and he seeks authorization to hold it. But Sanchez's government has said self-determination is not allowed under Spain's 1978 constitution.

Still, the central socialist government has "great expectations" on the meeting, Cabinet spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said last week.

Sanchez is expected to offer to unblock regional legislation on social issues and to promise infrastructure and other investments. </s> Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is meeting today with Catalan premier Quim Torra in a bid to start normalizing relations between Barcelona and Madrid.

It is the first time in two years that a Catalan government leader has come to La Moncloa, the seat of the Spanish executive in Madrid.

The last such meeting held there was between Mariano Rajoy and Carles Puigdemont; the former was recently unseated by a no-confidence motion and has retired from politics, while the latter fled Spain to avoid being tried for rebellion after leading a unilateral independence bid.

The Madrid premier thinks the meeting is “a mistake” because the Catalan government is “run by fanatics”

As the encounter started on Monday morning, Sánchez wrote on Twitter: “We begin the meeting focused on taking a step forward to return normality to Spain, with respect for the Constitution and the trust that institutional dialogue will open up channels of understanding.”

Following recent expressions of goodwill from both sides, the meeting will test the limits of the current leaders’ commitment to dialogue. Sources at both executives admitted that the path toward a loyal and long-lasting collaboration is fraught with difficulty. And there is opposition to the talks among political parties across the ideological spectrum.

Before leaving for the capital, Torra wrote on Twitter: “Going to Madrid to explain to [Pedro] Sanchez Castejón the extremely serious situation the Spanish state has created in Catalonia. And to willingly listen to the solution he proposes.”

More self-rule

Torra is asking for a Scottish-like referendum, but Sánchez is not open to that option

Sánchez, of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), has said that he is ready to consider further power transfers and investment in Catalonia, but is insisting on an agenda that will “take all Catalans into account,” not just those in favor of independence.

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.

At his last address inside the Catalan parliament, Torra compared Catalonia with Scotland and called for the same kind of negotiated referendum that ultimately ruled out independence for the UK nation “We expect the same reply that [then-British Prime Mininster] David Cameron offered,” said Torra.

Sánchez is not open to this possibility, but sources at La Moncloa said there is still room left to win back some of the 47.7% of voters who cast their ballots for separatist parties at the regional election of December 21. Sánchez will insist that his own agenda is meant “for all Catalans,” not just a few.

The Catalan executive says that Sánchez is mistaken if he thinks that promises of new investment will be enough.

Torra is expected to suggest that specific issues of an economic and social nature, such as improved financing and power transfers over railroad and airport facilities, be addressed by dedicated committees and bilateral forums. The separatist parties Together for Catalonia (JxC) and Catalan Republican Left (ERC) said that even though there is no Catalan state yet, running day-to-day affairs in this way would be good because it constitutes “making a republic.”

Opposition

There is considerable opposition to the Sánchez-Torra meeting among parties with very different agendas. Center-right party Ciudadanos, which strongly opposes the secessionist movement, has asked the Spanish PM to cancel the meeting until Torra “rectifies” and “drops his intention” to declare Catalan independence, in the words of deputy Fernando del Páramo. And Madrid regional premier Ángel Garrido, of the conservative Popular Party (PP), thinks the meeting is “a mistake” because the Catalan government is “run by fanatics” and nobody should “make concessions to diehards.”

Meanwhile, the far-left, pro-independence CUP party in Catalonia sees the trip to Madrid as a waste of time: “Talking with someone who does not accept the right to self-determination is a contaminated dialogue,” they say.

Spanish government spokesperson Isabel Celaá said that holding talks is one thing, and demanding respect for the law another. None of the two sides would say whether the former will still be possible if the latter is not respected.

English version by Susana Urra. </s> BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on Spanish Cabinet meeting being held in Barcelona (all times local):

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Spanish Cabinet members have arrived in a central Barcelona palace for a weekly Cabinet meeting that has been moved to the Catalan capital despite separatists’ protests against it.

Sanchez’s Socialist administration planned the meeting to convey an image of normalcy, but tension remains high in Catalonia despite progress in talks on Thursday with the pro-secession president of the northeastern region.

Some scuffles have broken out on Friday in central Barcelona between pro-independence protesters trying to reach the venue of the Cabinet meeting and police trying to stop them.

The regional Mossos d’Esquadra police force says that one protester has been arrested for public disorder near the headquarters of Spain’s National Police in a downtown avenue.

The meeting normally takes place in Madrid, but Sanchez has vowed to take it to other Spanish cities as a gesture of commitment to decentralization.

Catalan authorities say protesters angry about Spain’s Cabinet holding a meeting in Barcelona have blocked a major highway and dozens of roads, disrupting traffic to and from the city.

Pro-independence protesters called the protests to show their disgust at Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s decision to lead the weekly Cabinet meeting in Barcelona.

Security in the prosperous northeastern region, normally in the hands of the Catalan police, has been reinforced with hundreds of anti-riot officers from Spain’s national police force.

Sanchez has agreed with the pro-secession leader of the region, Quim Torra, to work on finding a solution to the political crisis that has festered since Catalonia’s failed secession attempt last year. Their meeting on Thursday was only the second since both took power earlier this year.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> 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.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting, which took place in the prime minister’s residence in Madrid, was the first such encounter between a Spanish leader and a Catalan president since January 2017.

“The most important thing is the normalisation of relations between the Spanish government and president Torra within the constitutional framework and respecting Catalonia’s statutes,” Spain’s deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo told reporters afterwards.

Ms Calvo said that a bilateral commission to facilitate co-operation between Madrid and Catalonia would be restarted after several years of paralysis. She also said the central government wanted to speed up the creation of a new transport link between Barcelona and other Mediterranean cities.

Last month, Mr Sánchez’s Socialists replaced the conservatives of Mariano Rajoy as the party of government. Ms Calvo suggested that the previous administration’s legalistic approach to the Catalan issue would now make way for political engagement.

“For a long time we have been going through a political crisis to which this government wants to respond with politics,” she said.

Mr Sánchez and Mr Torra were photographed walking together through the gardens of the prime minister’s residence. The Catalan leader also presented the prime minister with two books about Catalonia and a bottle of ratafia liqueur, adding to the air of goodwill.

However, in the build-up to the meeting there had been several issues of discord between the two men.

Shortly before becoming prime minister, Mr Sánchez had accused Mr Torra of being a Catalan supremacist, comparing him to French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

And last week, the Spanish government announced it would present an appeal before the constitutional court against the Catalan parliament’s reiteration of its supposed right to break away from Spain.

The Catalan leader was less effusive about Monday’s encounter than the Spanish deputy prime minister, saying afterwards that “we have been able to compare the visions we have of Catalonia”.

He also highlighted the two areas where his administration and Madrid fail to see eye-to-eye: on the holding of a Scotland-style independence referendum and on the status of jailed independence leaders, whom Mr Torra describes as “political prisoners”.

However, he added that he had “seen a prime minister Sánchez who has listened, who took notes, and I liked that”.

Some pro-independence Catalans had expressed doubts ahead of the meeting, because it was likely to focus on the region’s existing powers rather than secession. Criticism also came from unionists, who underlined the fact that Catalan nationalists had helped Mr Sánchez become prime minister last month in a parliamentary vote.

“Mr Sánchez has to pay a debt to Mr Torra for his support in making him prime minister,” said Albert Rivera, leader of the Ciudadanos party. “But Spaniards should not have to pay off the debts of Mr Sanchez with this kind of humiliation.”

Mr Sánchez and Mr Torra have agreed to meet again, although a date has not been announced. </s> BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s prime minister and the leader of Catalonia emerged from a meeting Thursday with an agreement to find a solution to the political crisis that has festered since the region’s failed secession attempt last year.

Following the talks in the Catalan city of Barcelona between Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez and Catalan head Quim Torra, their governments issued a joint statement calling for dialogue to settle the fight.

The statement said the central and regional governments recognize there is a conflict over Catalonia’s future. But, it added, “Despite the notable differences about its origin, nature and ways of resolution, they share, above all, the commitment for effective dialogue that is linked to a political proposal that has the backing of large part of Catalan society.”

The two sides also agreed to have members of their governments meet again in January.

The Spanish and Catalan governments have been at odds since the Catalan Parliament issued an ineffective declaration of independence last year, which was ruled unconstitutional by the courts and led to a temporary takeover of regional affairs by Spanish authorities. Several leaders of the secession movement were jailed.

Sanchez and Torra sat down for the first time last July in an initial step by the Spanish prime minister to mend relations with Catalonia’s separatist leaders since they both took power earlier this year.

Their second meeting took place in Barcelona’s Palau de Pedralbes, a former palace surrounded by walled gardens that once housed Spanish royalty. Torra shook hands with Sanchez on his arrival and they spoke briefly as they walked into the building, which belongs to the regional government.

“We all must open a new chapter, a chapter in which confrontation becomes concord,” Sanchez told a Catalan business forum at a nearby hotel shortly after seeing Torra.

“Against the polarization of society, cohesion. Against posturing and noise, dialogue, dialogue and dialogue,” Sanchez said.

Torra also attended the forum and said that “both governments share the idea of finding a democratic solution.”

Despite the willingness shown by both sides to talk, neither hid how far apart they still are on agreeing to the way to resolve Spain’s worst political crisis in nearly three decades.

Catalan government spokeswoman Elsa Artadi told reporters after the meeting that Torra’s position remains that a legal binding referendum on independence is the answer.

Spain’s minister of territorial affairs, Meritxell Batet, said the federal government has not budged from its position that such a referendum by a Spanish region is unconstitutional.

“We are convinced that we can continue forward toward a political solution within the constitution,” Batet said. “The crisis we are going through won’t be solved in a short period of time.”

The sit-down with Torra comes with Sanchez struggling to keep his minority government afloat. His Socialist Party was dealt a huge setback in regional elections earlier this month in southern Spain when opposition parties campaigned against his maneuvers in Catalonia.

Right-wing parties have launched fierce attacks criticizing Sanchez of wanting to appease Catalonia’s separatists in exchange for their support for his national budget.

“We have a president who in order to stay in power is capable of siding with those who want to break Spain apart,” Pablo Casado, leader of the conservative Popular Party, said after Sanchez saw Torra.

Torra is also having trouble within the separatist camp, which is divided into moderates and diehards who want independence now. Polls and election results show that roughly half of Catalonia’s 7.4 million residents want to remain a part of Spain.

Due to forecasts of protests by radical separatists, security in the prosperous northeastern region, normally in the hands of the Catalan police, was reinforced with hundreds of anti-riot national police officers.

But only around 100 protestors gathered outside the hotel hosting the forum where Sanchez and Torra spoke to demand independence for the region. Worker and student groups also called strikes for Friday, when Sanchez has decided to hold his weekly meeting of the Spanish Cabinet in central Barcelona.

Hours before Thursday’s meeting, four imprisoned Catalan separatist leaders said they were abandoning the prison hunger strike they started at the beginning of the month to call attention to what they consider unfair treatment by Spain’s judiciary. Activist-turned-politician Jordi Sanchez and former Catalan Cabinet member Jordi Turull went without food for 19 days, while ex-regional ministers Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn abstained for 17.

Meanwhile, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont announced in Geneva that he and five allies were filing a complaint with the U.N.’s Human Rights Committee contending Spain violated their democratic rights as elected officials.

Puigdemont, Torra’s predecessor, has fought off extradition to Spain since fleeing to Belgium shortly after the secession attempt in 2017. He faces immediate arrest if he returns to Spain.

Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson reported this story in Barcelona and AP writer Aritz Parra reported from Madrid. AP writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> The new Catalan government led by Quim Torra has officially assumed its powers, thus ending Madrid's direct rule over the autonomous Spanish region.

Quim Torra says that he wants to talk with the new Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez.

The Generalitat's first session will be held on Saturday. Its 13 members have all been sworn in by Torra and promised to perform their duties in accordance with the law.

In late May, Madrid refused to recognize a cabinet proposed by Torra, which included exiled and imprisoned Catalan politicians. Torra said the actions of the Spanish government broke the law and violated his political rights.

He took the oath of office on May 17 but did not swear allegiance to either the Spanish king or constitution.

Nevertheless, the Spanish government approved Torra's second Cabinet list. On Friday, a decree on new regional government appointments was published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Catalonia. </s> MADRID: Spain’s new leader Pedro Sanchez met with separatist Catalan president Quim Torra for the first time on Monday, aiming to kickstart dialogue after the region’s failed attempt at secession sparked a political crisis.

 The first meeting between a Spanish prime minister and a Catalan regional leader in more than two years started in Madrid around 0930 GMT with a handshake.

 Torra, who has said he wants another independence referendum, earlier said his aim was to “find out the Socialists’ view on the right of self-determination for Catalans”.

 However, Sanchez, who has been in power for a month, has urged Catalan separatist leaders to “turn the page”.

 Several government figures have rebuffed the idea of another referendum, with Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo telling the Spanish newspaper El Mundo on Sunday that the country’s constitution does not allow for a territory to become independent.

 “And no Spanish constitutional government will consider it,” Calvo said.

 But a senior Catalan government official said that they would bring the fractious issue up in Madrid.

 “Our proposal to resolve this is a referendum on self-determination. If they have a better idea, they can explain that to us,” the official said.

 Before the meeting, Torra tweeted that he was going “to explain to Pedro Sanchez the very serious situation that the Spanish state has created in Catalonia”.

 “And with the willingness to listen to the solution he proposes,” he added.

 Sanchez overthrew his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a key parliamentary vote last month that he won with the help of Catalan separatists.

 In a bid to ease tensions ahead of the talks, at the start of this month six of the nine Catalan leaders being held near Madrid were transferred to Catalonia.

 They include former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart of two pro-independence associations and Raul Romeva, the former Catalan government’s international affairs chief.

 Accused of rebellion along with deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont for their role in the region’s proclamation of independence, they face up to 25 years in jail.

 Catalonia’s separatist government pushed ahead with an independence referendum on October 1 despite it having been ruled unconstitutional by the court and Spain’s central government. The referendum was followed by a unilateral declaration on independence on October 27.

 At the time, separatist authorities said 92 per cent of the 2.2 million Catalans who cast their ballot — 43 per cent of eligible voters — opted for independence.

 The conservative Spanish government in power at the time, headed by Mariano Rajoy, responded by sacking the Catalan government, suspending its parliament and imposing direct rule over the wealthy northeastern region.

 Madrid ended direct rule over Catalonia last month after Torra’s administration was sworn in.

 Catalan lawmaker Meritxell Batet, who was recently appointed as Spain’s minister for public administration, said the ruling Socialists wanted to amend the constitution to move toward a “federal model”.

 However, with only 84 deputies in the 350-member house, the Socialists have little room for manoeuvre.

 — AFP
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.