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Spain must listen to the opinion of the Gibraltarians, says Catalan Politician
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The International Relations Secretary of Convergencia Democratica de Catalunya Carles Llorens has said that the Gibraltar issue is viewed differently from Catalunya to how it is viewed in other parts of Spain.
He called for a need to move away from the traditional areas of conflict and historic sovereignty claims and said that Spain must listen to the opinion of the Gibraltarians. Mr Llorens is in Gibraltar on a fact-finding visit as a guest of the Liberal Party of Gibraltar.
Convergencia Democratica is part of an alliance of two parties known as Convergencia y Unio, and is the largest party in Catalunya and the third largest in Spain as a whole. They are presently in Opposition both in the Catalan Parliament and in the Spanish Cortes in Madrid.
Yesterday he was briefed by the Leader of the Liberal Party Dr Joseph Garcia and held meetings with the Deputy Chief Minister Joe Holliday and the Leader of the Opposition Joe Bossano. He also paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Assembly Haresh Budhrani.
Mr Llorens said that there was not much information about Gibraltar in Spain and added that he had found his visit very useful and informative in getting a wider picture of what Gibraltar was like.
He said that the political situations of Gibraltar and of Catalunya were both very different although there were interesting historical episodes where those interests had come together at a point in time. Gibraltar was ceded to the British Crown at the same time that the Catalans lost their freedom.
He gave details of the new "Estatut" of Catalunya and said that Spain was changing. The main issues facing the Spanish Government were the peace process in the Basque country, which had just opened, and the negotiations leading to the Catalan "Estatut" which were just coming to a close. He said that, in his opinion, Gibraltar did not rank as high as this in the scale of priorities of the Zapatero administration. He added that the Spanish Government would never recognise the right to self-determination of the people of Gibraltar because this was an emotive term in Spain. He said that Catalan politicians were more pragmatic and realistic in their approach which was one of pacts and agreements rather than conflict and confrontation. He referred to greater use of Gibraltar airport and the resolution of the telephone issue in general terms in this context.
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