The Catalan president, Quim Torra, will be in Strasbourg on the 2nd July for the opening of the new legislature of the European Parliament, the presidency minister Mertixell Budó has said.
The announcement came as a surprise during the press conference following today's weekly cabinet meeting. Shortly before, foreign minister Alfred Bosch had confirmed he would be attending and that other members of the executive would likely do so too. He didn't want to give specifics, however, because the final decision hadn't been made.
At the end of the press conference, Budó announced that next week's cabinet meeting is to be postponed to Wednesday, as president Torra will be in Strasbourg with other members of the executive on the 2nd of July.
Budó explained that President Torra had informed his cabinet of his intention to go to Strasbourg during the cabinet meeting, and that he had "various events" scheduled on his agenda for that day. She did not want to clarify whether the president will be taking part in the protest outside the European Parliament.
In reference to the impediments to Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comín taking their seats as MEPs, the foreign minister said that "2 million citizens decided who they wanted to have represent them as their MEPs". He also warned that "the European Parliament must be sovereign and there must be direct representation"