International challenges of Catalonia: Defining its public diplomacy through parliamentary debates

Introduction After a deep parliamentary debate, the Catalan Law on External Action and Relations with the EU (CLEARE) was approved on 26 November 2014 in the Parliament of Catalonia with 99 votes in favor, 29 against and 3 abstentions. The Spanish government decided four months later to take this law to the Constitutional Court. The conservative Spanish government considers that the Catalan administration does not have the competence to deal with foreign actions.