CUP calls for declaration of independence on Tuesday

The Popular Unity Candidacy, or CUP, part of the pro-independence majority coalition in the Catalan Parliament, has called for a declaration of independence on Tuesday. The announcement that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is to appear before Parliament on October 10 was described as an “historic opportunity and a key moment” to exercise “self-determination” by CUP member, Carles Riera, on Friday.

Calling the declaration of independence "unavoidable and undelayable," Riera said that talks had taken place with pro-independence partners JxSí (Together for Yes) on the text of the declaration. “We are working on effective scenarios,” said the MP for the far-left party. Yet, Riera also insisted that the declaration should explicitly include the entering into effect of so-called “disconnection” legislation passed to govern the transition to independence, which was suspended by Spain’s Constitutional Court.

As for the issue of mediation in any talks between the Spanish and Catalan authorities, Riera insisted that negotiations could only take place after independence had been declared in the Catalan Parliament. The CUP member insisted that any arbitrated talks could only take place between “two subjects of equal standing.”