Catalan Minister fired by president Puigdemont after voicing doubts about referendum

President Puigdemont fired his minister of business, Jordi Baiget, this Monday evening amid a controversy over the latter’s comments over the referendum in an interview published in El Punt Avui newspaper. Baiget had said that the Spanish government will “act so definitively against the vote that we will probably need to do something different andsomething different will be similar to the unofficial plebiscite on independence held in November 2014”. The opposition parties have claimed over the past few months that the plans by the government to call a vote on independence will end up as a remake of the 2014 vote, while the executive has insisted that it will be dramatically different since this time it will be binding.

The culture minister, Santi Vila, was appointed as Baiget’s substitute, and will be temporarily in charge of both portfolios. The former mayor of the northeastern city of Figueres from 2007 to 2012 had also been minister of territory and sustainability from 2012 to 2016. The crisis in the Catalan government came one day before the executive is expected to reveal the logistics and legal framework behind the referendum in a solemn event to be held at the Catalan National Theater.