Catalan separatists gather, prepare independence vote

Catalonia's separatist government will hold a summit on Friday to prepare an independence referendum it plans to stage in September, despite fierce opposition from Spain's central government.

The goal of the evening meeting, which will bring together representatives of Catalan unions, separatist parties and businesses, is to draw up a "national pact" for the vote in the wealthy northeastern region.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is seeking to rally independence supporters following recent divisions amongst separatist parties, which won a majority in the regional assembly for the first time in September 2015.

"We have to stand together and we can't mistake who our adversary is," Marta Pascal, general coordinator of Puigdemont's PDC party, told AFP.

The meeting comes amid a thaw in relations between Catalonia and Spain's central government.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) government has been more open to dialogue with Catalan separatists since it was sworn in for a second term last month.

He has assigned the task of handling the Catalonia issue to Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria who has set up an office in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, which she visits almost weekly.

"There has been a change in strategy on the part of the government to try to correct the separatist drift and reduce tensions," conservative daily ABC wrote today in an editorial.

Santamaria has offered to negotiate with a list of economic and social demands made by Puigdemont but has refused to discuss the planned independence referendum, which her government deems illegal.

She has also acknowledged that her party made mistakes in its campaign against a 2006 statute that granted increased powers to Catalonia.

Spain's Constitutional Court in 2010 struck down several articles of the statute, despite the fact that it had been approved by Catalans in a referendum — as well as by the Spanish parliament.

Her comments sparked a harsh response from the most conservative wing of the PP.

"The government has arrived late at dialogue, they have to hurry up and produce facts and not just words or else this will lead nowhere," said Miquel Iceta, head of the Socialists' Catalan faction.

While the government has taken a less rigid stance on Catalonia, it has used the courts to block all steps taken by the Catalan government towards independence. It has also taken legal action against Catalan politicians who have pursued independence.