Spain:Catalan president forms govt without jailed, exiled ministers

Madrid, May 29: Catalonia's separatist president signed a decree on Tuesday nominating an administration that no longer includes jailed and exiled former ministers who backed its independence push, his office said in a statement.

Quim Torra's previous choices had been criticised by Spain's central government as "a new provocation" which had refused to ratify them.

Madrid has vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia until a new regional government is in place.

In the worst political crisis in Spain in nearly four decades, Spain has taken direct control of Catalonia and sacked the region's defiant separatist government by publishing special measures overnight in an official gazette online in October 2017.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy replaced Catalan President Carles Puigdemont as the top decision-maker in the northeastern region, has dissolved the regional parliament and called a new regional election on December 21.

PTI