“Catalunya independence would be stupid,” Trump tells Rajoy
Wednesday, September 27, 2017 @ 7:47 PM
UNITED States president Donald Trump told his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy he thinks Catalunya independence would be 'stupid'.
They met in the White House yesterday (Tuesday) for the first time officially – although they briefly said 'hello' to each other in Brussels earlier in the year – and Trump praised Rajoy's handling of the Catalunya referendum situation.
He said Spain was 'a great country' which 'should remain united'.
“Really, I think the people of Catalunya will stay in Spain, and I think it would be stupid not to; we're talking about staying in a country that's truly great, beautiful and historic,” the Republican leader said in a joint press conference with Rajoy following their meeting.
With five days to go as at yesterday before the 'illegal' referendum, Catalunya was the main topic of conversation between the two presidents, but during a working lunch they also analysed Spain's and the USA's bilateral relationship and international affairs such as North Korea and Venezuela.
Trump called for the European Union to apply sanctions to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Until now, the White House, speaking of Catalunya, has merely said the referendum was 'an in-house issue' for Spain but that it supported Rajoy's government.
This was the official line delivered by US defence minister James Mattis last weekend in a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Maria Dolores de Cospedal in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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