Spain ends talks with Catalan separatist parties

By Senhan Bolelli</p> <p>MADRID (AA) – Spain's deputy prime minister announced Friday that the government was breaking off negotiations with Catalan pro-independence parties after they rejected the framework for the talks.</p> <p>Following a Cabinet meeting, Carmen Calvo told a press conference the negotiations had stalled due to the parties’ insistence on holding an independence referendum, something she said would &quot;never be acceptable&quot;.</p> <p>She also said that solving the political situation in Catalonia should be based on lawful and democratic principles.</p> <p>Calvo, however, noted that the government will not give up and will continue to pursue dialogue with the parties.</p> <p>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Twitter the government will never accept a referendum on self-determination and offered Catalonia &quot;coexistence, dialogue and the law&quot;.</p> <p>The socialist minority government, which has been in power for eight months, recently launched a &quot;dialogue&quot; initiative to find support for the 2019 state budget and to take a step towards resolving the Catalan problem.</p> <p>Late Tuesday, the government released the text of a 21-article roadmap that was first proposed by Catalan President Quim Torra to Sanchez on Dec. 20.</p> <p>Entitled “A state pact to resolve the conflict between Spain and Catalonia&quot;, the document touched on international mediation efforts and calls for negotiations between the Spanish and Catalan governments “on an equal footing”.</p> <p>Spain dissolved the Catalan parliament after the Catalan government held an illegal independence referendum in October 2017.</p> <p>Shortly afterward, then Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy implemented Article 155 of Spain’s constitution which allows Madrid to intervene in the internal affairs of the country’s autonomous regions.</p> <p>Ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont then fled Spain to Belgium before being briefly held in Germany for 12 days under an EU arrest warrant.</p> <p>He returned to Brussels after his release, where he has been living in exile ever since.

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