Catalan president Quim Torra has said in Brussels that his "vital objective" is to restore Carles Puigdemont and his ministers to office after they were fired by the Spanish government. Torra has visited ministers Toni Comín, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret the day after signing a decree nominating a new cabinet substituting the ministers in exile or prison, whose appointments Mariano Rajoy refused to officially publish.
Outside the house of the republic in Waterloo, accompanied by the three ministers, Torra explained that he had travelled to Belgium to give his support to the exiles, who he described as "democratic, honourable people, who did what the people of Catalonia asked them to do". He called on the members of his new cabinet to stay in touch with their colleagues in exile or in prison, as he is on an almost daily basis with president Puigdemont.
"The three ministers, I ask them to continue with the same dignity [they've shown] so far, that they should continue with the task of internationalising the Catalan case", he said, adding that no one else could fulfil this task like them.
As for the motion of no-confidence in prime minister Rajoy to be debated in the Madrid Congress, Torra called for "dialogue without conditions" with PSOE's Pedro Sánchez, advising him to address not only Spanish deputies in the debate tomorrow, but the whole of Europe.