Politics

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and the Spanish General Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, met on Wednesday in Barcelona behind closed doors. During the meeting, Puigdemont explained his concerns to Maza about the legal proceedings against pro-independence politicians in Catalonia. “To insist on the ‘judicialization’ of politics is, without a doubt, a mistake,” said Catalan Minister of Justice, Carles Mundó, who had accompanied the president, in later declarations to the press. The State Prosecutor, however, avoided making any statements by leaving the premises through a side door. According to a press release, published by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the meeting between Puigdemont and Maza took place as a matter of “institutional courtesy” and “questions of judicial prosecution” were not addressed. However, the Spanish General Prosecutor did answer Puigdemont’s concerns saying that he would always “fulfill his duty as the law commands”. The meeting took place only two days after Maza had announced he would act against any “possible illegal action related to the independence process”.

Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, said the Catalan referendum is “inevitable” and called for the EU to “take a position” and decide whether it “supports those who defend democracy or those who refuse to dialogue”. He made these statements during the first meeting of the friendship group on Catalonia created in the Irish Parliament, the fifth of its kind in Europe. “This proves that Catalonia’s current political situation awakens a huge interest abroad,” Romeva told the CNA and considered it “obvious and normal” that different parliaments across Europe “wish to ask questions and know more about what Catalonia is about to do and how it is going to do it”. “What is not normal is that the Spanish State refuses to talk about it,” he complained.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, sent a letter on Wednesday to his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, to formally seek the start of negotiations for an independence referendum. “As I have told you personally, and publicly said on numerous occasions, the Catalan Government has expressed its utmost willingness to find a political and negotiated solution to the demands of the Catalan people to decide their own future,” reads the letter, seen by the CNA. Puigdemont said to Rajoy that they should discuss the “terms and conditions” of an independence vote “as soon as possible” and warned that now is a “decisive moment” for both governments. According to the Catalan President, the Catalan issue demands the “utmost attention” from the Spanish government, which he urged should come sit at the negotiating table. Puigdemont explained to Rajoy in his letter that the Catalan Parliament approved a resolution on the May 18 which expressed “the will of the Government to organize a referendum in accordance with the Spanish government and in line with the standards set by the Venice Commission”.

The Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, intensified the tone against Catalonia in the Senate on Tuesday, where he accused the Catalans of planning a “coup d’état”. He blamed Catalonia for wanting to “liquidate” Spanish unity, comparing their conduct with the “worst dictatorships”. Puigdemont’s referendum proposal is “one of the most arbitrary actions the democracy has seen”, he said. Rajoy insisted that currently “Spain is a democracy and a State governed by the rule of law”, which his government “will preserve”. The Spanish President also complained that the Catalan government had changed the Parliament’s Set of Rules and was planning to move forward with the Law on Transitional Jurisprudence “in 24 hours”, “without a debate, without the opposition being able to have its say”. Neus Munté, spokesperson for the Catalan Government and Minister of Presidency, said that the fact that “members of the Spanish government use a harsh term like “coup d’état” is very “unfortunate”. She assured that the Catalan government’s aim is to talk about “speaking with each other”, and therefore it is completely inappropriate to call “such an offer to the President of the Spanish Government a ‘coup d’état’”.

The Catalan Government decided on Tuesday to formally request negotiations with the Spanish government on the terms and conditions for carrying out the independence referendum. After the meeting of the Executive Council, the Catalan Minister of Presidency and Government Spokesperson, Neus Munté, explained in declarations to the press that the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, will send a letter during the next few days to the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, explaining this position. The Catalan Government avoided setting a deadline for getting a response from the Spanish government and expects a “clear” answer “reflecting the same civilized attitude as the Catalan government” and “an open mind and statesmanship,” Munté added. The Spanish Vice President, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said that Madrid “will prevent the referendum” because the Spanish state has the “power” to do so, as it represents, she argued, “democracy”.

Catalonia will celebrate an independence referendum no matter what happens. This is the message that Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, and Foreign Affairs Minister, Raül Romeva, defended during their conference in Madrid on Monday. “We won’t leave the negotiating table without an agreement and we will wait until the last minute” to achieve one, promised Puigdemont, urging the Spanish government to engage in discussions. “I invite you to address this issue seriously and meaningfully,” the Catalan President asked his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, adding that it would be “irresponsible” not to offer a “serious, real, and sincere” solution to the Catalans’ demands. Puigdemont also warned that his government “will never” give up the Catalans’ democratic right to self-determination. Vice President Oriol Junqueras also stressed that the referendum will take place even if the members of government face “prosecution, are banned from office or are convicted”.

The Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, on his way to Madrid to give a conference with Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and Foreign Affairs Minister, Raül Romeva, explained in declarations to the press: “We are going to Madrid like we go to any other place in the world: to explain ourselves, but not to ask anyone's permission. The only permission we want and need is the permission of the Catalan people.” “We never miss an opportunity to explain our full commitment to democracy and the referendum,” Junqueras added. Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy raised the tone and demanded that the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, “have the guts to defend the referendum before Congress”.

Ireland’s ‘Houses of the Oireachtas’ will create a friendship group on Catalonia in order to get a deeper understanding of its political situation, as well as enhancing trade relationships and promoting cultural exchange. The initiative gathers together members of the Irish Assembly and the Senate representing Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Sinn Féin, the main parties in the bicameral parliament. Thus, Ireland is following the example of other countries such as the United Kingdom, Finland, Switzerland, and Estonia, who also have discussion groups on Catalonia. Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, will travel to Dublin on Wednesday to attend the presentation of the cross-party group and explain Catalonia’s referendum roadmap to the participants.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, replied on Friday to the Spanish Vice President’s invitation to present his referendum plans in the Spanish Congress. Puigdemont said to Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría that he would be happy to do so if an agreement between the Catalan Government and the Spanish government is previously reached. In other words, he suggested that the two executives, following the example set by the UK and Scotland in 2014, should agree on the “conditions” for an independence referendum and then submit that agreement to a vote in the Spanish chamber and the Catalan Parliament. In a brief press conference, Puigdemont celebrated what he considered as a “change in tone” coming from the Spanish government. According to him, the offer to debate the referendum in Congress is a recognition by the Spanish executive of the possibility of such a vote happening.

The National Pact for a Referendum (PNR) has gathered 500,000 signatures from institutions, organizations, elected representatives, and private individuals, both within and outside of the country, in coming to agreement with the Spanish Government over holding a referendum on Catalonia’s independence. The PNR spokesman, Joan Ignasi Elena, described this “substantial” support as a “democratic revolution” which proves that also “those who want to vote ‘no’ to Catalonia’s independence” are urging the Spanish executive to negotiate and hold the vote. In this vein, he called for the Spanish government “to open a dialogue” because “being in denial doesn’t change the reality”; on the contrary, it puts them in a “ridiculous” position.

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, will explain the final proposal for negotiating an independence referendum with the Spanish Government on Monday at Madrid’s town hall. Under the title “A referendum for Catalonia: an invitation to a democratic agreement” the Catalan president, the Vice president, Oriol Junqueras, and the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, will give a conference, which will be a formal offer to the Spanish government for an “accorded democratic vote”. The conference will take place shortly after the presentation of the signatures for the National Pact for the Referendum, which includes several international personalities. The initial proposal by the Catalan president to discuss the issue in the Senate was declined by the Spanish chamber.

The Spanish government’s vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, urged the Catalan government’s president, Carles Puigdemont, to outline the proposal of celebrating an agreed referendum before the Spanish Congress. She said it was an “invitation” for the “dialogue and debate to be carried out in parliament”, which, according to the Spanish vice president, would allow addressing the celebration of the referendum “where it belongs, in the chamber”. According to Sáenz de Santamaría, her proposal makes sense because, “as of today, only Parliament can decide a matter of this nature”, whereas the Spanish government “cannot authorize nor negociate” the celebration of a referendum. Sáenz de Santamaría also stated that no member of her executive will be present at the conference that the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont; the vice president, Oriol Jnqueras; and the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, will hold in Madrid on Monday.

The case against Montse Venturòs, the Mayor of Berga, for not taking down the Catalan pro-independence flag from the City Hall building during elections has been reopened. Although Berga’s trial court decided not to pursue the case last March after considering that exhibiting the Catalan pro-independence flag was not “an act of propaganda” nor disobedience, the court has now accepted the appeal presented by the Public Prosecutor asking for the case to be reopened. Venturós lawyer and party colleague Benet Salellas from pro-independence CUP said that reopening the case proved “how deeply politicized the Spanish justice is and how legal procedures are the main battering ram against the pro-independence movement and the democratic demands of Catalan citizens”.

The Catalan Parliament called for the Government to “launch the necessary actions to obtain the advice, recognition, and endorsement of the Venice Commission with respect to the conditions that the referendum should fulfill in order to meet the requirements established by this body”. The Catalan Chamber also agreed to ask the Catalan executive to inform the Commission of the Catalan people’s desire to call “a referendum in agreement with the State”. This point was approved thanks to the votes of governing coalition Junts Pel Sí and the alternative left coalition Catalunya Sí que es Pot. However, the members of the other pro-independence party in the chamber, the radical left CUP, abstained from voting, since they believe that the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Spanish State regarding the referendum is not realistic.

International personalities such as Nobel Peace Prize Rigoberta Menchú, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams or US actor Viggo Mortensen have joined the ‘Let Catalans vote’ manifesto. The document, first published in 2014, supports the Catalans’ “democratic right to vote on their political future” and warns that “preventing Catalans from voting seems to contradict the principles that inspire democratic societies”. The manifesto now boasts 40 signatures, including Nobel Peace Laureate Ahmed Galai, vice-president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights and a member of the National Quartet Dialogue;South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Laureate, Desmond Tutu; and American linguist Noam Chomsky, among others.