The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has resumed the official greeting of King Felipe VI after years of pro-independence presidents who have avoided following protocol with the Royal Household at the start of public events. The meeting took place before a visit by the monarch to the Olympic port of Barcelona, facilities from the time of the Barcelona ’92 Olympics that, three decades later, have been renovated. Illa and Felipe VI greeted each other naturally in the public and restaurant area of the dock when the latter got out of the official car. The monarch was then also greeted by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the Government delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto; the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; and the Minister of Sports of the new Government, Berni Álvarez.
The procession went up from the port to the breakwater, where the attendees stopped to look at the sea. Minutes later, Illa and the king had a conversation for a few minutes in the port area where the City Hall receives the guests. The meeting, according to various sources, was relaxed, far from the tensions that marked the era of the process.
The King then took part in the institutional welcome ceremony for the 37th edition of the America’s Cup, at the old shipyards, which officially began this Thursday with the participation of six teams after the four-day preliminary regatta last week. During his opening speech, the King addressed Illa: “Congratulations, President”, he dedicated to her in Catalan. Felipe VI has presented the America’s Cup as a “great showcase for Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain”, with, he said, “the best unique backdrop that this wonderful city offers”.
Illa’s gesture breaks in any case with a practice that had been carried out by the last presidents of the Generalitat, all pro-independence, who as far as possible tried to skip protocol and avoided greeting the monarch at public events. The return to protocol by the Catalan president is added to another recent gesture that represents a change of direction, at least symbolic, in the relations between the institutions of Catalonia and those of the rest of the State. Last Friday, in a meeting with Mayor Collboni, Illa recovered the Spanish flag next to the flag and the European flag. Government sources defended this inclusion (which also represents a break with the practice of their predecessors) as a sign of “institutional normality”, which was nonetheless criticised by the separatists.
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