Catalonia’s parliament has confirmed Salvador Illa, an ally of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez whose Socialists came first in May’s regional election, as head of the Catalan government, ending more than a decade of separatist rule.
Sanchez praised Illa’s appointment on Thursday, saying that he will be a great president for the regional government in Catalonia.
“We have worked together under the most adverse circumstances. I know about your love for Catalonia. I know your temperance, your common sense and your ability to work. Exactly what Catalonia needs,” Sanchez wrote in a social media post.
Illa will succeed Pere Aragones, of the Republican Left of Catalonia, which favours Catalan independence.
However, in a sign of potential further unease, Illa’s election was upstaged by separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who appeared at a rally in Barcelona, defying an arrest warrant after seven years of self-imposed exile, and then vanished before police could arrest him.
Puigdemont told the crowd he aimed to revive the independence drive that plunged Spain into a deep political crisis seven years ago when Catalonia tried to secede from Spain following a referendum deemed illegal by courts.
“I’ve come today to remind you that we’re still here,” Puigdemont told thousands of cheering supporters. “Long live Catalonia.”
Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya party had come in second in the May elections as he campaigned from France.
Independence in Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people in northeastern Spain, has been a major sticking point in Spanish politics.
The 2017 referendum, which was backed by Puigdemont, asked voters whether they “want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic”.
The overwhelming majority of voters backed independence, but turnout was at 43 percent as unionists boycotted the election.
Spain viewed the poll as illegitimate and cracked down on its organisers, arresting at least 14 officials involved in the push.
In 2021, Sanchez pardoned nine Catalan separatist leaders, promising an “era of dialogue”. Puigdemont was not among them.
