Catalan separatists form govt

Nationalists regained control of Catalonia's government yesterday and immediately pledged to seek independence for the wealthy region, posing a swift challenge to new Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez who took office on the same day.

The new Catalan cabinet was sworn in after months of tensions with the central government, ending Madrid's seven-month direct rule of the region, imposed by Sanchez's predecessor after separatists declared independence.

Sanchez, a Socialist who has said he wants talks on Catalonia but opposes any independence referendum, was sworn in about an hour earlier, a day after parliament ousted conservative Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

The unexpected coincidence of the central and regional governments taking power minutes apart could open a new chapter after dramatic months that have seen Catalan politicians jailed or flee abroad to avoid arrest.

Both sides have said they want to talk. But they have very different targets: Sanchez's Socialists had backed Rajoy's Catalonia policy, opposing independence.

"This government is committed to moving towards an independent state in the form of a republic," Catalonia's new leader Quim Torra said after the cabinet's swearing in ceremony in which separatists shouted "Llibertat! Llibertat!" (Freedom!).

He called on Sanchez, an untested lawmaker who has never been in government, to meet and talk about Catalonia's future.

"Let's talk, let's deal with this question, let's take risks, you and us. We need to sit around the same table and negotiate, government to government," he said.

Sanchez, who secured the backing of an unlikely alliance of mainstream Socialists, hard-leftists and Catalan and Basque nationalists to bring down Rajoy, has the slimmest parliamentary majority since the birth of Spanish democracy in 1975.

His Socialists hold just 84 seats in the 350-member assembly, which could make any bold move on the economic or political front - including on Catalonia - difficult.

He has already said he would stick to the 2018 budget crafted by Rajoy's conservatives.

Rajoy imposed Madrid's direct rule on Catalonia after nationalists organised an independence referendum deemed illegal by Spanish courts. Rajoy then organised snap elections in Catalonia in December, hoping opponents of independence would win, but that backfired when voters gave separatists a majority.