Former Spanish Employment Minister Fátima Báñez was confirmed Thursday to be among the victims of the deadly train collision outside Toledo, Spain, in which at least 69 people died.

The former minister’s death was announced by CEOE, Spain’s main employers’ association, whose foundation she chaired. “[Báñez’s] leadership, social commitment and strategic vision have left an unerasable mark on this organization and all those who have worked with her,” the CEOE said in a statement.

Within hours of the crash, authorities said the former minister was traveling in one of the carriages most affected by the collision, but were unable to confirm she was among the dead until Thursday.

Báñez served in center-right Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government from 2011 to 2018 and played a central role in Spain’s response to the eurozone crisis. During that period, she developed a warm personal relationship with Ursula von der Leyen, now European Commission president, who was then her counterpart in Germany’s labor ministry.

As employment minister, Báñez oversaw the conservative government’s controversial 2012 labor-market reform, which made it easier for companies to dismiss workers and drew fierce opposition from trade unions. The administration argued the changes would make hiring more flexible and accelerate the country’s economic recovery.

Speaking from the crash site Wednesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning. “All of Spain is mourning,” he said.

“It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year,” Sánchez added. “We are going to get to the bottom of this, and if there has been negligence, it will be revealed, and if there have been failures in the system, we will act decisively.”

Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the initial investigation suggested the collision was caused by an official at the national railway control center in Madrid who “inexplicably” instructed one high-speed train to proceed along a track where another had stalled.

Puente insisted Spain has “a safe transport system,” but acknowledged that “human action plays a role” and that, despite extensive safety regulations and protocols, “failures can occur.”

Quebec’s separatist premier says that he will boycott the EU-Canada summit that opens in Montreal on Thursday, warning European leaders that deals struck there without his government’s consent may not be applied in the country’s second-biggest province.

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon confirmed his absence late Wednesday in an open letter to the European delegation, which he posted on X. His announcement followed two days of public sparring with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney over Ottawa’s refusal to let him address the summit.

“This dynamic creates uncertainty as to the application of the agreements you could negotiate during the summit,” he wrote in French.

In the letter, St-Pierre Plamondon says Ottawa has “decided to sideline Quebec” from the talks. He says this leaves his government with “neither a chair at the negotiating table nor the opportunity to speak,” even though the summit is on Quebec soil.

Under Canada’s federal system, he argued, the provinces implement international agreements that fall within their powers. Without Quebec’s consent, a deal that runs against its interests “will simply not be implemented,” he wrote. He also accused Ottawa of withholding “critical information” on the negotiations.

He offered to meet European leaders “in the near future, in a more opportune context.” He will send Quebec’s chief diplomat, Pascal Paradis, to the summit in his place.

Carney said Wednesday his office had offered the premier the honor of welcoming the Commission president to Montreal, and a seat at the head table. “I hope he will reconsider,” he said. On Tuesday, the prime minister had accused St-Pierre Plamondon of choosing to “leave an empty chair again.”

The row has soured the upbeat mood around the summit, which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa have billed as a milestone. Leaders will launch an “Alliance for the Future,” a framework for shared prosperity and economic security.

St-Pierre Plamondon’s letter says many of its topics fall under Quebec’s responsibility, including health, education and natural resources.

The premier has also pursued his own contacts with European leaders.

He spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, and said the two had agreed on a possible meeting in France in the coming weeks.

At working level, ties have held so far, and officials describe the relationship as constructive.

Hélène Drainville, Quebec’s delegate general in Brussels, told POLITICO last week that Quebec was in talks with the European Investment Bank and the Commission, and that “all the signals are green.”

Carney, Costa and von der Leyen are due to hold a joint press conference on Friday.

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Two high-speed trains collided south of Madrid on Wednesday morning, less than a year after the Adamuz train crash that killed dozens of people and shook Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government.

At least 64 people died and 58 people were injured in the crash, which took place near Urda in Toledo province just before 9 a.m. local time, emergency services in Castilla-La Mancha said on Wednesday afternoon. The toll has now exceeded that of the Adamuz crash, where 46 people died on Jan. 18.

Emergency services said a Renfe train rear-ended a stationary Iryo train, causing two Iryo carriages to fall down an embankment. Both trains were traveling between Madrid and Seville.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “dismayed” by the accident and sent his “solidarity and support” to the victims and their families. He said emergency services were working at the scene to help those affected and ensure their safety.

Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the People’s Party said he was “very worried” about reports of a new rail accident and that the priority now was to help the victims and support their families.

Santiago Abascal, leader of far-right Vox, also offered condolences to the victims’ families but turned his message to the government. “I will not rest until this government, which is a criminal organization, sits in the dock to answer for its crimes,” he said on social media.

The accident led the government, the PP, the PSOE and the left-wing Frente Amplio to cancel their main pre-campaign events ahead of the November 29 general election, with Vox as the exception. Abascal said he would not “use mourning to silence the complaints” in an interview Wednesday morning.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered her condolences on X, saying she had received the “devastating news” from Toledo and that “Europe mourns with you.”

The Adamuz accident drew sharp criticism of Sánchez’s government, with the PP accusing it of failing on rail safety and demanding that Transport Minister Óscar Puente answer for it. Sánchez, who stood by Puente, was later grilled in the Spanish parliament over the government’s response.

This is a developing story.