The Minister for Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency, Alfred Bosch, has welcomed a decision of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which on Monday rejected a request from the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for precautionary measures related to Catalan government delegations abroad.
Minister Alfred Bosch addressing the media
The Minister for Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency, Alfred Bosch, has welcomed a decision of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which on Monday rejected a request from the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for precautionary measures related to Catalan government delegations abroad. In its petition, the Spanish ministry, still headed by Josep Borrell, requested the provisional closure of the offices in London, Berlin and Geneva.
 
Addressing the media, Bosch said the decision was “a judicial setback for Borrell’s obsessions”, in terms of both the work done by the delegations and the scandal surrounding “spying linked to the request for precautionary measures”. The minister said that the Catalan government’s delegations will “continue working as usual” and that the ministry will continue to “develop and pursue the Catalan government’s foreign action, which is completely legal, legitimate and necessary”, despite “Borrell’s evident eagerness to scupper this activity”.
Bosch also thanked the legal services of the Catalan government for their “impeccable work against the clock”, which he said was vital for achieving the positive outcome reflected in today’s decision by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.

Application out of time
The Court considers that the request for precautionary measures was lodged out of time as it was not submitted during the appropriate stage of the proceedings. The decision of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia states: “The request for precautionary measures with suspensive effect lodged by the applicant [the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the State Legal Service] must be rejected because it was lodged out of time.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged the request in early July of this year against a Catalan government decree of June 2018 that approved the reopening of delegations in the UK and Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and the United States. The Court therefore argues that Borrell’s request was not submitted at the appropriate stage of the proceedings.