Catalonia govt to relaunch campaign to split from Spain

Catalan leader Quim Torra was preparing on Tuesday to relaunch the region’s campaign to split from Spain, rebuffing an offer from Madrid for a referendum on greater autonomy that would fall well short of independence, Reuters reported. Torra, who is due to set out his separatist roadmap at a lecture entitled “Our Moment” on Tuesday evening, was sworn in as regional head in May, replacing Carles Puigdemont who fled to Brussels last year after the central government in Madrid removed him from office. Spain’s new socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has taken a softer line towards Catalonia since taking over from Mariano Rajoy, a conservative, in June. However, Torra has shown no sign of shelving his demand for a vote on full independence. “I will take it to the end,” Torra said in a television interview on Monday. The lecture comes one week ahead of the Catalan national day, the ‘Diada,’ which traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of separatists onto the streets.