During the month of November, the President of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès i Garcia, and the Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, met with more than 20 international media outlets to present the Government of Catalonia’s position on the amnesty law and the investiture agreement with the Spanish Government.

President Aragonès expressed satisfaction with the investiture agreement and defended the referendum and the amnesty in major global media outlets such as the BBC and CNN. ”The majority of Catalans want to decide their future through a referendum. We are very insistent. We trust in democratic channels and in the people of Catalonia to achieve our goal”, he said.

In an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera, the President advocated for the negotiation of a referendum, and in Portugal’s Expresso, he also emphasised other conditions that Prime Minister Sánchez must fulfil: amnesty and financial and infrastructure issues. Aragonès also spoke with Germany’s Der Spiegel and The Times from the UK.

The Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, explained the investiture agreement and the amnesty law to 20 international media outlets from 17 different countries. On the international news station TV5Monde, the Minister explained, “Amnesty is a step towards a political and democratic solution to the conflict that still exists between Catalonia and Spain. A conflict rooted in questions of democracy and sovereignty”.

Minister Serret explained this is similar terms to the Turkish public broadcasterTRT World: “It is a good agreement because it allows progress in the resolution of the political conflict through democratic principles”.

Minister Serret has also spoken to other media outlets in the last two weeks including Público (Portugal), Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), Weekendsavisen(Denmark), Corriere del Ticino (Switzerland), Radio 24 (Italy), Die Presse (Austria) and Politico (Belgium). She also spoke to the Swedish radio station Sveriges Radio, the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, as well as the public service radio and/or television broadcasters of Latvia (Latvijas Televizija), Lithuania (LRT) and Belgium (VRT). She also spoke with the newspapers Clarín (Argentina), El Economista (Mexico), Ouest-France (France), and Slobodna Dalmacija (Croatia), the Southeast European TV station N1and the digital platform Klix (Bosnian and Herzegovina).

Minister Serret also explained the Government of Catalonia’s request for the official status of Catalan to be recognised in European institutions, especially in interviews with the media from Nordic and Baltic countries.

Catalan Government delegates abroad also engaged with certain international media outlets. For instance, the Government delegate to France, Eva Doya Le Besnerais, gave an interview to Radio France Internationale (RFI), while the delegate to the Nordic Countries and to the Baltic States addressed Iceland’s public radio, RÚV.