The new Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has ordered that banks can process payments made by the Catalan government without the supervision of the Spanish treasury ministry, according to the central government spokesperson and education minister, Isabel Celaá. The measure was decided after noting the lifting of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution with the formation of the new Catalan government, in Sánchez's first cabinet meeting. Celaá didn't clarify whether further controls of the Regional Liquidity Fund, dating to 2015, would remain in place, but they are expected to, given that they date to before the measures taken relating to the independence movement.
The news, however, isn't a huge change from what Mariano Rajoy had planned to do. According to treasury ministry sources from the previous government, the control measures applied last summer were to be lifted anyway. These were measures taken shortly before the referendum, aiming to make sure it wasn't paid for with public money, later joined by article 155. Sánchez and Rajoy, meanwhile, agreed on 15th May to continue the control relating to the Regional Liquidity Fund.
The Spanish prime minister sees his main challenge as being "territorial integrity", in other words, "the institutional normalisation of the country", alluding to the Catalan independence movement, for which they plan a "cross-spectrum" approach. The territorial policy and civil service minister, Meritxell Batet, and the foreign minister, Josep Borrell, both Catalans, are to be the carrot and the stick in this process: the first, offering dialogue and easing tensions, in juxtaposition with Sánchez, the first, countering Carles Puigdemont's work abroad.
On the other hand, Sánchez has still not set a date to meet Catalan president Quim Torra. The spokesperson said that he will see all the presidents of Spain's autonomous communities in the coming weeks. Batet, meanwhile, will start a round of telephone conversations.
As such, any immediate concessions to the independence movement are discounted. The objective is dialogue, although Celaá said that they haven't yet considered the topics which Torra and Sánchez will discuss. On the topic of pardons for the independence leaders in prison, she said that the case is currently in the hands of the investigating judge. She did, however, categorically reject Carles Puigdemont's request to discuss the right to self-determination.