The president of Catalonia, Quim Torra, and the president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, have appeared in Berlin to call on the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, to urgently agree to dialogue and to lift article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and end the central government intervention in Catalan finances. They gave a joint press conference 24 hours after Torra was invested in the Parliament. "The ball is in Spain's court", said Puigdemont, whilst his successor urged Mariano Rajoy to "set the time, place and date of the meeting".
The appearance has strong symbolic importance. Puigdemont thanked Torra for having accepted the responsibility of being president at such a complicated moment, whilst the president insisted that his wish was to manage to restore Puigdemont to the role.
Both said it was a time for "deescalating the tension" with the Spanish state, explaining that the president's first decision was to send a letter to prime minister Rajoy asking for dialogue. Puigdemont, however, wanted to dispel the notion that this will be a short-lasting executive, saying that the government's wish is to last out its term.
The two presidents emphasised during their speeches the meeting's symbolic nature. "I believed that it was important that my first visit [as president] were here to Berlin, and my second visit will be to the prisons where the Catalan politicians are, democratic and honest politicians who only did what the people asked them to do," said Torra.
Asked about the future government, Puigdemont said that "president Torra will take on, with all his responsibility, whatever affects the government he presides over". "The decisions are taken by the head of the government which has a parliamentary majority which supports it and will have to face up to its decisions".
Torra said that the structure of Catalonia will be based on the Espai Lliure ("Free Space") abroad, the Catalan institutions (the government, the Parliament and the town councils) and the constituent process, which requires the public to continue pushing towards independence.
In response to a question as to what his role will be from now on, Puigdemont said that the ballot boxes on 21st December settled on him as president, and that he should be president if the result had been respected. "Everything that emerges in this context will be related to the democratic abnormality of a Parliament which has had to make up to four proposals of candidates to achieve an investiture", he said, "why wouldn't we talk about democratic abnormality when there's a president who was illegally fired".
Puigdemont, however, also repeatedly insisted that Torra will have full responsibility as president and will make his own decisions.
Translator's note: The presidents' remarks quoted above have been translated from our coverage in Catalan. As such, they will likely not match word-for-word the original comments when made in English.