Sáenz de Santamaría, yesterday, with Luis de Guindos and Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, during the press conference after the Cabinet./ Photo: Pool Moncloa/J.M.Cuadrado
The Diplomat. 23/01/2016
While the interim Government confirmed yesterday that it will appeal against the creation of the Foreign Ministry of the Catalan Government before the Constitutional Court, the spokeswoman of the Catalan Executive, Neus Munté, defended its “complete legality”.
The acting vice-president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, surrounded by headlines about Economy and Education at the press conference following the Cabinet, confirmed the intention of the Government to appeal against the establishment of a Regional Foreign Ministry by the new president of the Catalan Government, Carles Casademont.
For her part, Munté said, in Barcelona, that “we are calm because things are well done and we are protected by the law”, after the announcement made by the vice-president about the decision made by the Spanish Government. According to the Catalan counsellor, the creation of the Regional Foreign Ministry is “completely legal and constitutional”.
The Government adds so the appeal against the Regional Foreign Ministry to that lodged on 14 April against 17 articles of the Law on Foreign Policy of the Catalan Government, which has been provisionally interrupted while the High Court settles its constitutionality.
The Executive of Mariano Rajoy argues almost the same reasons to reject both the Regional Minister and the Law on Foreign Policy of Catalonia. It considers that these violate a jurisdiction that is exclusive of the Central Administration, such as foreign affairs.
The Catalan regulation, approved in November, describes the lines of international action of the Catalan Government, its organizational structures, and management and planning mechanisms. The recently created Regional Ministry, led by Raül Romeva, is the consequence of that Law.
