Politics

Latvia’s Anti-fraud Office couldn’t find any evidence to prove that former Latvian Prime Minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, was bribed to back Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations. In an exclusive interview with the CNA in 2013, Dombrovskis, who was still Latvia’s Prime Minister at the time, defended the possibility of his government recognising Catalonia’s independence as long as the process was “legitimate”. Soon afterwards, Spanish magazine ‘Interviu’, citing a Spanish police report, accused Dombrovskis of allegedly receiving 6 MEUR in exchange for expressing his support for Catalonia’s political aspirations. According to Latvia’s Anti-fraud Office spokeswoman, Laura Dusa, there are “no reasons to open a judicial process” because “there is no proof of a bribe”.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has ruled out running again in the next Catalan elections. He had already stated this last January, when he took office, and he confirmed his intention during a radio interview on Thursday. “In a year from now I won’t be President”, stated Puigdemont and insisted that the Government’s plan was to launch an 18-month long term of office which will expire next summer. “We committed to calling elections six months after the referendum at the most and my task finishes with this purpose, I don’t have any vocation to be a candidate for the presidency”, he assured. Marta Pascal, general coordinator of Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), Puigdemont’s party, considered the president’s decision “coherent” and refused to open a debate on who will be PDeCAT’s candidate for this position.

On the 29th of October, Conservative People’s Party leader, Mariano Rajoy, was invested again as Spanish President after 300 days of an acting government and two elections in six months. ‘Catalonia’s file’, that is to say, the aspirations of a vast majority of the Catalan citizens to decide their own future through the ballot boxes, not only centred the investiture debate but also the previous negotiations to form government in Madrid and most of PP’s previous legislature (2011-2015), during which the pro-independence movement reached its highest support. The rest of the so-called ‘unionist parties’ in Spain also focused on Catalonia’s aspirations during their electoral campaigns and made public statements and warned of the “risk” of Catalonia’s essential demand: to hold a binding referendum on independence. Once the new Spanish executive was formed, Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, who leads the first Government which has a pro-independence majority in the Catalan Parliament that emerged from the 27-S elections in 2015, assured that there was “a new opportunity for the Spanish State to recognise Catalonia and overcome this deadlock”.

Joan Coma, a pro-independence radical left CUP councillor in Vic, a town 60 kilometres from Barcelona, was arrested on Tuesday for ‘insurrection’ when calling for disobedience against the Spanish institutions in a plenary session a year ago. Two police officers in civilian clothes took him to Madrid’s ‘Audiencia Nacional’ court, where he had to declare this Wednesday after refusing to do so in October. Coma was freed without charges but the magistrate Ismael Moreno asked for the removal of Coma’s passport. “I hope to have a Catalan one soon”, Coma stated before the press soon after leaving the ‘Audiencia Nacional’ court. Hundreds of representatives from CUP, pro-independence left wing ERC and the Catalan European Democratic Party PDeCAT showed their support for Coma on Wednesday before many city halls throughout Catalonia and before the ‘Audiencia Nacional’ court.

Joan Coma, city councillor in Vic, a town 60 kilometres from Barcelona, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly ‘inciting to sedition’ when calling for disobedience against the Spanish institutions in a plenary session a year ago. After refusing to do so in October, this Wednesday he testified before Madrid’s ‘Audiencia Nacional’ and was cleared of charges, although his passport has been taken away by the magistrate. “We are up against a state with a strongly anti-democratic nature”, stated pro-independence radical left CUP’s Coma after leaving the Court and called on those who defend Catalonia’s independence but also those who don’t want to join efforts to “overcome the current stage”. Coma’s arrest is to be added to that of Mayor of Berga, Montse Venturós, who was accused of an ‘electoral crime’ for refusing to take down a pro-independence flag from the city hall’s façade on two occasions.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, called all members of the National Alliance for the Right to Self-Determination to a summit this Friday in order to find political and social consensus around the organisation of the referendum on independence to be held next September 2017. To achieve this, the National Alliance for the Referendum has been created, presided over by former Catalan Socialist, Joan Ignasi Lena. Representatives from all those political parties which support Catalonia’s right to decide, together with more than 3,000 civil society, business, cultural, sports and political organisations committed to launch a campaign to promote an agreed referendum with the Spanish State, specially oriented toward the international audience. Puigdemont called the meeting after finding that the Spanish Government’s repeated calls for dialogue have not resulted in any material actions. On the contrary, all the steps towards launching the pro-independence roadmap have been suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has backed the Catalan Government’s right to carry out foreign action but has dismissed the possibility of Catalonia establishing bilateral relations with other countries. The TC stated this Friday that the Autonomous Communities “can carry out activities related to foreign action” as far as they “respect the state’s exclusive competence regarding international relations”. The decision also emphasises that the Autonomous Communities are not allowed to trigger treaties, represent the State nor have international responsibilities. Thus, the magistrates partially admitted the appeal presented by the Spanish Government which claimed that Catalonia’s law on foreign action and the relationship with the EU was unconstitutional.

Spain’s call for Catalan leaders to attend the upcoming Autonomous Communities’ summits to discuss regional policies has not changed the Government’s plan for the meetings. The Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, have refused to attend the Council on Fiscal and Financial Policies (CPFF, going by its Catalan initials) this Thursday, citing other political commitments. Catalan Secretary of Economy, Pere Aragonès, will go instead. For his part, Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has already announced he will not attend the Conference of Presidents convened by the Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, for the 17th of January. “Catalonia has won the right to a bilateral relationship as the demands of the Catalan people have nothing to do with the requests of other Autonomous Communities”, Puigdemont said in October, when he announced that he would not be attending the conference.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) carried out this Wednesday its usual procedure and hand delivered the resolution notice which warns the Catalan executive of the criminal liability of launching the referendum plan. The document emphasised the magistrates’ duty to “impede or block” any initiative aimed at ignoring the TC suspension of the Government’s plan to call a referendum in Catalonia in September 2017. The notice warns Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, Catalan Vice President and Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, along with the members in the Catalan executive of the “eventual charges” which they may face. On Tuesday, the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, and the members of the Parliament’s Bureau also received the same notice, which was hand delivered by judicial secretaries from Catalonia’s Supreme Court.

The support of 2 MPs from radical left pro-independence CUP, the main partner of governing cross party 'Junts Pel Sï', allowed the budget for 2017 to overcome the appeals presented by the oppoistion groups in the Parliament. Catalan Vice President and Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, defended this Tuesday the budget for 2017. According to Junqueras, the draft especially focuses on “fiscal justice” and social expenditure, which he defined as fundamental pillars for economic growth. “We have many difficulties and many more are being put in our way, but it is clear that our economy and our society are capable of making it through”, he stated on the first day of the two-day session during which the Parliament will vote on the budget for 2017. “This is the best budget possible”, he assured in November, right after presenting the bill to the Parliament’s Bureau and emphasised the social orientation of the draft budget. Indeed, more than 74% of the total bill for 2017 is allocated for social expenditure and €1.1 billion more has been allocated for this purpose in comparison to the budget for 2015, which had to be extended for 2016.

Spain’s so-called ‘dialogue operation’ with Catalonia has had “zero” impact at international level. This statement was made this Tuesday by the Secretary General of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat), Albert Royo, during the conference ‘Catalan Public Diplomacy in a changing world’. The talk was organised by the Federation of Internationally Recognized Catalan Organisations (FOCIR, going by its Catalan initials). According to Royo, what is transcending abroad is the “persecution of 400 Catalan elected officials being carried out by Spain”. “Until now the dialogue operation has not materialised and been translated into concrete facts, we neither see it in Catalonia nor abroad”, he added. Furthermore, he warned that with the dialogue promises Spain is “paving the way to legitimate future coercive measures [against Catalonia] at international level”.

85% of Catalans are in favour of a referendum on independence, according to a poll published on Sunday by the newspaper ‘El Periódico’. Of all the respondents, 49.6% approve holding a referendum without the Spanish Government’s permission and 35% make it subject to the support of the state. Only 13.8% of the respondents are totally opposed to it. Regarding the result of the vote, “yes” to Catalonia’s independence prevails with 48.9%, in comparison to 40.3% against. The media outlet published this Monday another poll in which it points out that, in case of elections in Catalonia, pro-independence forces would maintain or even increase their absolute majority in the Parliament with between 69 and 73 seats. Currently, the governing cross-party list ‘Junts pel Sí’ (JxSí) and the radical left pro-independence CUP total 72 MPs, with 68 needed for a majority.

Representatives from several pro-independence civil society organisations joined Parliament President, Carme Forcadell, on her way to the Court. Forcadell testified this Friday for having allowed a democratic debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27th of July. Pro-independence grass-roots organisations the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM) highlighted the wide support for the representative. Indeed, the President of AMI, Neus Lloveras, said that the backing for Forcadell was a “demonstration of the unity and strength” of the pro-independence movement in Catalonia. The president of the ANC, Jordi Sànchez, deemed Forcadell’s prosecution “absolutely unjustified” and the president of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart, said Catalonia is facing “a critical hour” and has to show “unity and firmness”.

The prosecution carried out by the Spanish justice system against Catalan Parliament President, Carme Forcadell for allegedly violating the law when allowing a debate on independence has aroused international concern. In Switzerland, a group of 15 Swiss MPs from the six parties represented in the Federal Chamber have called for their government to take a stance and express its “concern” over Forcadell’s trial. According to the MPs, which represent the six parties represented in the federal Parliament, the proceedings against Forcadell disturb “a country such as Switzerland, which is used to direct democracy”. Also this Friday, former Slovenian Minister for Foreign Affairs and MEP, Ivo Vajgl also admitted to being “worried” for the reputation of Spanish democracy and another Slovenian MEP, Igor Soltes, said that he considered Forcadell’s prosecution “scandalous”.

“What happened today is inconceivable in a truly democratic state”, lamented this Friday the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. In a press conference soon after testifying before Catalonia's Supreme Court for allowing a debate on independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27^th of July, Forcadell said that she considered her trial “another step” towards the Spanish State’s attempt to “violate the separation of powers”. Thus, from her point of view, what is really at stake with her trial is “democracy” rather than “the political future of a single person”. As a response, the Spanish Government’s Spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo warned that “saying that justice is not independent in the Spanish State is not only false but unfair towards the judges” and emphasised that “there is no impunity in Spain”.