The Spanish Government has taken Catalonia’s foreign offices in Berlin, London and Geneva to court alleging that they serve the interests of the ‘secessionist project’.
Madrid authorities, with acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez at its helm, has urged the Spanish High Court in Catalonia (TSJC) to provisionally suspend the three delegations and close the offices opened by the Catalan government.
Catalan offices abroad have long been in the spotlight of Spanish authorities. In 2017, with the right-wing Mariano Rajoy as prime minister, Spain closed Catalan offices abroad as part of Article 155 and the exceptional measures to stop the independence bid led by Carles Puigdemont.
Up until now, Sánchez and the Socialist party had been more lenient than the previous Spanish government – especially since they rely on votes from Catalan independence parties to stay in power.