Catalan independence & UK Brexit campaigns ‘confront citizens with fake arguments’ – Spain’s PM

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has compared secession efforts in Catalonia to Britain’s tangled process of leaving the EU, saying both rely on confronting citizens with fake arguments. In an address to Parliament on Wednesday, Sanchez said both campaigns “invent a story of grievances and force people to choose between two identities,” AP reported. “They want to achieve polarization, denying space to moderation and understanding,” he added. Sanchez has announced that his cabinet will meet next week in Barcelona and will raise the country’s monthly minimum wage from €736 to €900 ($1,019). Taking the December 21 meeting to the Catalan capital was meant to signal the thawing of relations with the pro-independence regional authorities. However, regional separatists have called for protests.