Article published at Diari Ara, 16th September 2016
Photo: Romeva (left) and the delegate of the Catalan government in Washington, Andrew Davis, at the US Congress. / ARA
The Catalan Minister will give two talks on immigration management
Yesterday Foreign Minister Raül Romeva began a three-day trip to the United States to explain the independence process to US congressmen. Specifically, Romeva was to meet this morning with Republican and Democratic representatives on the subcommittee for European Affairs, a body that reports to the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee. One of the Congressmen who will meet with Romeva is California’s Dana Rohrabacher (R), President of the subcommittee, who has already spoken in favor of the right to self-determination: “I don’t see any reason why Catalans should not be able to decide if they want to be part of Spain or not”, he said last September, after meeting with then-head of Foreign Affairs Roger Albinyana, who was deputy minister at the time (a lower ranking official), to learn about the situation in Catalonia after 27-S. This time Romeva will travel there to explain the state of the independence process. As to be expected, the Minister has run into diplomatic issues with the Spanish authorities: ministerial sources explained that this meeting, which comes right after the rallies on Catalonia’s National Day (September 11), is the one that has generated the most pressure from the Spanish embassy.
Talk in a think-tank
fter the meeting with the congressmen, Romeva will travel to New York with another mission: to explain how Catalonia has managed immigration in recent years, and how the Catalan model could serve to host refugees. He will do so first with a lecture at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs think-tank, where he will be joined by Catalan Immigration Secretary Oriol Amorós. Also participating in the talk will be Nisha Agarwal, New York City Commissioner for immigration. Romeva will close his agenda with another lecture on immigration at New York University. The Minister will not miss the opportunity to link the topic of migration to the independence process: he will assure that Catalonia is prepared to face any migratory challenges as an independent country.
Read the full article here.
Americans For Catalonia 