Spain's Pime Mnister,Mariano Rajoy has said the new Catalan parliament should hold its first session on 17 January, ahead of reinstating the region's government. In an end-of-year address to the nation yesterday,Mr Rajoy said he hope that as soon as possible the region will be able to have a government that is open to dialogue and able to relate to all Catalans, not just half of them. The announcement comes a week after Catalonia's separatist parties won back a majority in a divisive snap election. Although the unionist Citizens party had the biggest share of the vote in the 21 December ballot, three separatist groupings headed by ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont retained their parliamentary majority. owever, the parties favouring a split with Spain may struggle to form a government.