The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illareceived the king this Thursday, for the first time since taking office Philip VI in Catalonia, during the monarch’s institutional visit to the renovated Olympic Port of Barcelona, on the occasion of the Sailing America’s Cup.
Less than a month after his inauguration, Illa welcomed the king at an official event, a gesture that the last Catalan presidents had avoidedabsenting himself from the monarch’s receptions.
The new Catalan president thus regains an image that he had not seen for several years, following the rise of the independence process, and thus normalizes relations with the Royal HouseSince Carles Puigdemont, Catalan presidents have been absent from the first greetings at events that coincided with the monarch or had decided not to attend.
Besides Illa, the reception was also attended by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the government delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto; the Minister of Sports of the Generalitat, Berni Alvarez; or the new chief commissioner of the Mossos d’Esquadra, Michael Esquius.
After the greetings, the delegation visited the renovated port of Barcelona, in the Gregal dock, which hosts the sailing competition, a sport of which the monarch is a fan, during a visit that lasted half an hour.
Afterwards, they went to the Drassanes in Barcelona, to the Maritime Museum, to participate in the institutional event welcoming the 37th America’s Cup by Louis Vuitton.
