Albares, after Illa’s meeting in Brussels: “If I had to meet with Puigdemont, I would”

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares defended this Wednesday the meeting between the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, and former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont in Brussels, even asserting that if he himself were to meet with the leader of Junts (Junts party), he would "meet." During an interview with Carlos Alsina on the Onda Cero program "Más de uno" to discuss international and national current affairs, Albares described the meeting between Salvador Illa and Carles Puigdemont in Brussels, which took place this Tuesday and was the first since the Socialist leader's investiture in August 2024, as "a snapshot of a reunion." “I agree with yesterday's photo. I think it's a good photo for coexistence. I think that photo represents a vast majority of Catalonia, as well as a vast majority of Spaniards, because it's a photo of dialogue, of coexistence, and of building a future, but above all, of turning the page,” he continued. He also stated that he prefers those images to those from other times with Popular Party governments, which reflected confrontation, and asserted that 80% of Spaniards agree with that image. Regarding the possibility of a new meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Puigdemont, he specified that “time will tell how Catalonia was a few years ago and how it is now” and stated that the role of politics is “to know how to forget,” as was done during the Transition process. “The PSOE has always been where it should be,” the minister asserted. “He has defended the Constitution when it needed to be defended and has restored coexistence when it needed to be done, and I believe that Salvador Illa perfectly represents a person who is always where he is most useful for Catalonia and for Spain,” he added. Therefore, he asserted, “I don't have a meeting with Mr. Puigdemont on my agenda, but if I had to meet, I would.” Furthermore, Albares insisted that, “without a doubt, Catalan, Basque, and Galician will one day be official languages of the European Union; to do otherwise would be discriminatory toward Spain.” In this regard, he recalled that there are countries, such as Malta, with several recognized languages and accused the Popular Party of boycotting the approval: “Is Galician not worthy of being spoken in the European Parliament?” he asked Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the PP and former president of Galicia, directly, whom he accused of influencing other European conservative parties to block this recognition. “Defending the languages of Spain is defending the national identity,” he insisted.

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