BARCELONA, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met here on Thursday with Quim Torra, leader of the Catalan region in the northeast of Spain, for their first talks since December 2018.
The meeting came amidst a fresh political crisis in the region after Torra's recent announcement that he would call an early regional election following a decision by the Spanish Electoral Commission to suspend his status as a deputy in the region's parliament.
During their meeting, Sanchez proposed opening talks between the Spanish central government and the Catalan authority and he handed Torra an "agenda" for a political rather than a judicial solution to the issues facing the region.
"Today is a very important day for Catalonia and for Spain as a whole, and it is because it is a day that starts a process that sees the Spanish government start a dialogue to bring us together again," Sanchez said, adding that his desire was to "start" negotiations with the Catalan region "again".
The Spanish prime minister said it was time to "return to our dialogue from the point that it stopped and our paths separated and we stopped listening to arguments and return to politics, rather than politicizing arguments." He added that any talks must be held "within the bounds of the law."
He also voiced his desire to tackle issues such as financing for the country's regions, support for public and social services, infrastructure and support for people whose property was damaged during the recent storm Gloria, which caused widespread flooding at the end of January.
Although Torra repeated his desire for a referendum over the independence of the region, he said that he would "never" refuse dialogue and that he would inform other Catalan separatist groups of what had been discussed in the meeting to enable the Catalan assembly to decide on its position.
Torra welcomed Sanchez with a guard of honor formed by members of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan regional police force) in front of the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona, the seat of the Catalan government, highlighting the official nature of the visit.
