Spain restarts talks to resolve Catalan secession crisis

Spain’s prime minister and the leader of Catalonia are restarting negotiations in hopes of finding a solution to the ongoing political crisis caused by the region’s separatist movement

BARCELONA, Spain -- Spain’s prime minister and Catalonia's leader met Wednesday to restart negotiations in hopes of finding a solution to the ongoing political crisis caused by the region’s separatist movement.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the two-hour meeting with regional president Pere Aragonès was important to continue mending relations between their governments, but that there would be no quick fix to the secession conundrum.

“Our positions are very different, it is important to underscore that. We will have to talk a lot, listen to each other, and make efforts to bring out positions together where we can. We are not going to resolve a decade-long crisis in one day,” Sánchez said.

“(But) we agree that these negotiations are the best way forward.”