King Felipe VI and Pedro Sánchez plan return to Barcelona on Sep 30

MadridKing Felipe VI and the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, plan to return to Barcelona on September 30. Spanish government sources confirmed to Efe they will travel to inaugurate Barcelona Motor Show, which will take place until October 10 under the slogan "Torna l'il·lusió" (Hope is back). The event was scheduled to be held from July 8 to 18, but was postponed in order to ensure the participation of the maximum number of brands. Last year, in fact, the show was not held due to the pandemic

Two years ago, in May 2019, King Felipe VI also inaugurated the event, and on that occasion he coincided with the president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, who avoided being among the officials who received him, although later they coincided but did not enchange any words. It was not even three months ago that Felipe VI was in Barcelona to inaugurate the Mobile World Congress and days before he also attended the conference of the Cercle d'Economia. On both occasions, the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, was also present.

Felipe VI and Pedro Sánchez will be in Barcelona on September 30, the day before the fourth anniversary of the 2017 Independence referendum. Pro-independence organisations, among them ANC, have prepared mobilisations to commemorate the referendum from 1 to 3 October and which are scheduled to take place in different parts of the Catalan territory. The last time the king visited Catalonia, Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs) called street demonstrations to protest against the king's presence.

Parallel to the Motor Show, the General Council of the Judiciary has invited Felipe VI to attend the ceremony to nominate new judges in Barcelona -the royal house has not yet confirmed whether he will attend-. It used to be traditional for him to participate, but in recent years he did not attend at the Spanish Government's behest. This is because of the proximity of the anniversary of Independence Referendum and because former Generalitat president Generalitat Quim Torra's bar from office was about to be announced.