Spanish government meets with Catalan separatist leaders

<p>Spain's deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, met with Catalan’s Vice President Pere Aragones and spokesperson, Elsa Artadi in Madrid on Thursday.&nbsp;</p> <p>The meeting came a day after the detaining of 13 activists, a separatist mayor, and a journalist on Wednesday for allegedly disrupting a high-speed rail line on October 1, 2018, the anniversary of the independence referendum, which was rejected by Madrid as 'illegal'.&nbsp;</p> <p>The Catalan government has insisted that these detentions were illegal as they were not court ordered.&nbsp;</p> <p>Negotiations with Catalan’s leaders was initiated by Pedro Sanchez who took office last June. This was due to a vote of no-confidence in the Conservative government, and that Sanchez enjoys the support of Catalan separatist parties.&nbsp;</p> <p>Sanchez needs to pass Spain’s draft budget and will likely need Catalan support, as he leads a minority government, having only 84 out of 350 lawmakers.</p> <p>On December 20, he met with the regional leader Quim Torra in Barcelona where both agreed to “an effective dialogue which will lead to a political proposal which has widespread support among Catalan society".</p> <p>It is however unlikely that the draft budget will be passed and whilst he has taken a more conciliatory tone towards Catalan there is doubt there will be much progress in terms of Catalan’s desire for self-determination.</p>