Top-level meeting in Waterloo between pro-independence movements: The Council for the Republic to be launched

A top-level meeting in Waterloo between pro-independence leaders, including Puigdemont himself, president Quim Torra, and Sergi Sebrià, the leader of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) in the Catalan parliament took place today.

An important decision was announced after the meeting: The Council for the Republic, the private body led by the president Carles Puigdemont to make the case for Catalan independence from abroad, will be officially launched at the Catalan government headquarters in Barcelona on October 30th.

The Council of the Republic, will include members of major pro-independence parties and grassroots organizations, with the exception of the far-left CUP party, which dismissed the body as a "symbolic solution" to "beat around the bush" and "avoid facing the real problem."

Torra stated that the Council of the Republic is a "key piece" of the project to achieve independence, and pledged to work in order to include CUP in the upcoming launching of the project.

"This project belongs to the pro-independence majority [in parliament], and I always included our colleagues from CUP. We hope we'll be able to convince them that they need to be here," said Torra.

Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), Demòcrates de Catalunya (Catalonia's Democrats),
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya(Catalonia's Republican Left), Òmnium Cultural, Partit Demòcrata de Catalunya (Democratic Party of Catalonia) and the Assamblea Nacional de Catalunya (Catalan National Assembly) took part in the meeting.