The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has returned from his trip to Japan and Korea convinced that the future of the Generalitat's foreign policy lies in Asia. So much so that his government is already working on a plan to intensify relations between Catalonia and the continent, which will be presented in the coming months, and which could mean opening new offices in China or India. However, the PSC hasn't always been as enthusiastic about expanding its network of delegations abroad. In 2023, for example, it demanded that then-president Pere Aragonès halt the opening of new offices that year. Have the Socialists changed their stance now that Salvador Illa is in charge of the Generalitat?

Salvador Illa begins this Monday an official trip to Japan and the Republic of Korea for reaffirm Catalonia's position as an investment hubIn this context, the Japanese ambassador to Spain since 2022, Takahiro Nakamae, meets with the ARA in his office at the Japanese embassy, amid a busy schedule marked by the promotion of the Universal Exposition, which Japan is hosting this year.

Last Wednesday, May 7, the Catalan Parliament approved the law creating the Foreign Affairs and Relations with the European Union Corps, a civil service body specializing in international relations that, despite having statutory coverage, had not yet been created.

The Parliament has approved the law to create the Generalitat's foreign action and European Union body. This initiative by ERC, in fact, came from the previous legislature with the aim of Government chaired by Pere Aragonès, which was passed this Wednesday with the endorsement of the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Comuns (Communs), and CUP (Cup). For their part, Junts and Aliança Catalana (Catalan Alliance) distanced themselves with one abstention, and both Vox and the PP (People's Party) expressed their outright rejection. Even the right and the Spanish-speaking far right engaged in a turbulent debate, and there was a heated exchange of serious accusations between the Popular Party and the Republicans.

The Prosecutor's Office is not easing in its ideological persecution of the independence movement. This Wednesday it became known in general terms what the lawsuit against 35 former Catalan government officials contains. It revolves around the 2017 referendum as well as the Generalitat's foreign action between 2011 and 2017, in a case that is clearly political and unfair from its very start. It is illogic that the Generalitat's foreign action, which at the time was perfectly legal and was not challenged before any court, is investigated by an administrative body that aims to economically punish political opponents for events which, in any case, have already been judged in a different trial. That said, the only good thing that can be drawn from this lawsuit, the full content of which has not yet been made public, is that the court's prosecutor, Manuel Martín-Granizo, of the Progressive Union of Prosecutors, considerably reduced the money that he considers may have been embezzled. From the initial €9m it has been cut to €3.4m, and, more significantly, the justification he gives for this reduction is that "the lawsuit respects and applies a principle of ideological freedom", so that he considers that the debates or conferences that could have been given were covered by freedom of expression.

Despite the pressure from Barcelona's Court no. 18 and the Court of Auditors, the Generalitat's foreign action continues. This Monday minister Victòria Alsina has presented the Catalan government's strategy abroad, which includes opening of six new delegations in 2022. This deployment involves, among others, opening delegations in Asia for the first time.

The Consell per la República already has a government, with Carles Puigdemont as its leader and an assembly of representatives with 121 seats, and now also a "free ministry of Foreign Affairs". The Waterloo-based entity wants to be nourished by "representatives from around the world" who will dedicated themselves to "explaining the Catalan conflict". They can be volunteers.

While a stage of dialogue between the Generalitat and the Spanish government of uncertain prognosis opens, the repression against the independence movement does not stop. The next case that is about to break out is one of the Court of Auditors is investigating the external action of the Generalitat between 2011 and 2017. The inclusion of the former Minister Andreu Mas-Colell among the 41 investigated has aroused a wave of solidarity in the last week and has helped to popularize the case. The first important date of this cause will be the 29th and 30th June. The lawyers of all the defendants will parade through the Court of Auditors to find out exactly what their clients are accused of and they will know the most important thing: the bail they will have to pay, which is expected to be in the millions. Those being investigated, from the ex Presidents Mas and Puigdemont to ex Ministers such as Junqueras and Romeva, delegates abroad and various senior officials, face a possible seizure of assets if they cannot make the payment.