Puigdemont assumed the Catalan Presidency promising loyalty to the people

USPA NEWS - The new president of the regional Government of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, took office on Tuesday vowing to "fidelity to the will of the people of Catalonia, represented by the Parliament" regional.

Puigdemont avoided pronouncing the oath to pledge allegiance to the Spanish Constitution, the King Philip VI and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, a rule against the interests of the separatists because it refers to Catalonia as part of Spain. Thus, the promise of the office was transformed into a new commitment to the Catalan independence process, promoted by the regional Parliament for the nationalist Democratic Convergence of Catalonia and the Republican Left of Catalonia.

After taking office, Carles Puigdemont said that "today, more than ever, we hope," and called for "those who rule never to lose sight of the hopes of the people." Before the Spanish Minister of Interior, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, who attended the event on behalf of the Government of Spain, the new Catalan president complained that "we are drowning financially humiliated" by the Spanish Government, which "disparages our identity."

The event began at 7 pm local time (1:00 pm ECT), while outside of the Presidency of the regional Government of Catalonia several dozen people booed the Spanish Minister of the Interior, the Government Delegate in Catalonia, military and representatives of the unionist political parties opposed to independence: the conservative Popular Party, the Socialist Party and the centrist Citizens. Whistles that were repeated when, after the event, they left the place.

Tempers were running high since a day before it was known that King Philip VI had refused to receive the president of the regional Parliament of Catalonia, Carmen Forcadell, to report the appointment of Carles Puigdemont as new Catalan president. The Royal House asked him to communicate in writing, by email, and she did so. Hours later, the resignation of Artur Mas and the appointment of Puigdemont were published in the Official Gazette and in the Official Gazette of the Government of Catalonia, signed by the King and the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, who do not thanked more services rendered during his tenure, as they do with public charges cease. A gesture that did not please the separatists.