Catalan president urges talks with new Spanish premier over independence

The president of Catalonia’s government, Quim Torra, has reaffirmed his commitment to achieving independence for the region, urging Spain’s new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to hold talks over the standoff between Barcelona and Madrid.

“This government is committed to moving towards an independent state in the form of a republic,” Torra said after the Catalan regional government was sworn in on Saturday in Barcelona.

The return of nationalists to power in Catalonia ended just over seven months of Madrid’s direct rule on the semi-autonomous region.

"Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, let's talk, let's address this issue, let's take risks, you and us," Torra said, just minutes after Sanchez himself was sworn in on Saturday in Madrid.

"We need to sit down at the same table and negotiate, government to government," Torra said. "This situation we're going through cannot go on for even one more day."

Socialist Sanchez replaced former premier Mariano Rajoy following a vote of no confidence after several former members of his conservative People’s Party were convicted of corruption in a massive financial scandal.

Like his predecessor, Sanchez, 46, has been fiercely critical of Catalonia's secession bid, but he has promised to try to "build bridges" with Catalonia’s new government.

Torra, a hardline separatist politician, became Catalonia’s new president on May 14 after the regional chamber failed in its successive bids to re-appoint Carles Puigdemont, the former president who is now in Germany fighting an extradition to Spain.

Puigdemont himself picked Torra, a fierce secessionist, to follow in his footsteps to advance Catalonia’s independence cause.

Torra has vowed to build on the results of a banned referendum on independence last October, which saw more than 90 percent of the region’s half of eligible voters endorse its separation from Spain. Puigdemont made his controversial declaration of independence based on the results of that vote, a move that prompted Madrid to impose direct rule and forced Puigdemont into self-exile.

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