Catalonia in its labyrinth

USPA NEWS - Catalonia remains locked in its political and judicial labyrinth, without finding the way out. Quim Torra, a prominent extremist of the independence movement, was elected on Monday as the new president of the regional government of Catalonia. A puppet president of the fugitive Carles Puigdemont, whom Torra pointed out as "the legitimate president" of Catalonia.

The investiture of Quim Torra reflected, once again, the division of Catalan society: 65 votes in favor, 64 against and four abstentions. The nationalists of Junts per Catalunya and the left republicans ERC voted in favor of the investiture. The conservative Popular Party, the Socialist Party, the center-right party Citizens and the leftists of En Comú Podem voted against. But what gave the investiture to Torra was the abstention of the four parliamentarians of the anti-system formation CUP. It was the second vote and the candidate was satisfied with a simple majority, which finally was only one vote.

The investiture of Torra announces a short term and of clear confrontation with the Government of Spain. In times past, the new Catalan president described the Spaniards on Twitter as "hyenas", accused them of plundering Catalonia and defended Catalonia as a superior race. Some xenophobic comments, racist and very close to Nazism, that the pro-independence have adopted as a flag.

During his inauguration speech, Torra admitted his status as a puppet of the independence movement, saying that "the legitimate president of Catalonia is Carles Puigdemont." On Tuesday, the new president of the regional government of Catalonia travels to Germany to meet with the ex-president escaped and offer a joint press conference. In the debate, he also warned that he will work to build the Catalan Republic, annul all decisions taken by the Spanish Government on the occasion of the intervention of the Catalan public administrations, reinstate the dismissed positions in his posts and he will only obey the mandate of the Parliament Catalan and the independence movement.

His words sowed alarm in the opposition parties. Citizens demanded Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to challenge the election of Quim Torra, but the Spanish Government prefers to wait for the new president to pass from words to deeds. Rajoy warned on Monday that the Spanish Government will not shake his hand if he has to reapply article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and intervene again Catalan public administrations. This Tuesday, Rajoy meets with the leaders of the Socialist Party and Citizens, and with high representatives of his own party, the conservative Popular Party. The objective is to unify criteria to respond to the new independence challenge.