Spanish Senate

Chair of the Romanian Senate Anca Dragu starts today a four-day official visit to Spain at the invitation of her counterpart Maria Pilar Llop Cuenca, with the visit being aimed at deepening and diversifying political dialogue and strengthening the special nature of the traditional friendly relationships between the two countries.

The President of the Senate, Anca Dragu, during a teleconference on Thursday with the President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Spain, María Pilar Llop Cuenca, discussed her project regarding the fight against domestic violence and physical abuse facing women in Romania.

The Romanian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, Gabriela Dancau, on Friday had a meeting with the President of the Spanish Senate, Pilar Llop Cuenca, on which occasion the two officials had an exchange of views on the elements of Romanian-Spanish cooperation, emphasizing the role played by parliamentary diplomacy in strengthening the relation between the two countries, informs a press release

Turkey on March 17 congratulated North Macedonia on its accession to NATO.

"#NorthMacedonia's accession to @NATO has been ratified by all Allies. Congratulations my friend @Dmitrov_Nikola, welcome to the Alliance!," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter.

North Macedonia on Tuesday cleared the final hurdle to becoming the 30th member of the NATO military alliance after the Spanish Senate ratified its accession.

Spain's office at NATO said that 259 of the 264 senators endorsed the move. The bill was immediately signed by King Felipe and will be submitted to the US State Department for official confirmation within the next 72 hours.

The Spanish economy may lose up to € 12 billion as a result of the recession in the tourism sector because of the Catalonian crisis. These data is reported in "Rasson" and BGNES, citing the research company "Reputation Institute".

The Catalan parliament on Friday afternoon declared the region's independence from Spain. Members of this parliament decided in a secret ballot - boycotted by the opposition.

The Catalan parliament voted to launch a constitutional separation process from Spain with 70 votes in favor, 10 against and 2 invalid - according to the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia.

The regional parliament of Catalonia decided to separate the area from Spain and to declare the Catalan Republic, Reuters reported.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria made a brief statement in which he announced that Mariano Rajoy had summoned an extraordinary cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in Catalonia, said The Spain Report quoted by Focus.

The meeting will be held at 9:00 am local time on Wednesday.