Politics

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, gave the talk ‘Mapping the path towards Catalan independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. In front of nearly 200 international professionals from different fields, Puigdemont described Catalonia’s process for becoming a new state and said that he is convinced that “when the time comes” the European Union “will show its big ability to adapt” and will not let Catalonia, “whose economy represents 2% of the European GDP”, go. “We will adopt the 3,363 international treaties which Spain has signed in order to be perfectly integrated within the context of the free and democratic nations worldwide”, he added. The conference at Chatham House was one of the highlights of Puigdemont’s official trip to London, which will finish this Friday. 

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont met with former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, during the President’s official trip to London. In a face-to-face interview on the radio programme ‘El Balcó’, from Cadena SER radio, Puigdemont praised “Scotland’s know-how in terms of organising referendums” and assured that Catalonia would like to conduct its pro-independence process “in the Scottish way” but lamented that Spain “is not the United Kingdom” and therefore “it is hard to negotiate if there is no one at the other end of the table”. For his part, Salmond insisted that “it is not for Scotland to instruct Catalonia on the specific techniques to follow” in order to achieve their purposes but emphasised that “ballot boxes and democracy will prevail” and “the opportunity shall arise”. This was Puigdemont’s first event in London, where he will be on an official trip until Friday.

The new Catalan state will be “a citizen and participative republic”, based on a presidential system, without an army but with an “Agency for Security and Defence” which would protect citizens and control the borders. These are some of the points of the first draft that ‘Constituïm’, a group made up of several professionals from different fields that has already put together previous attempts at writing a Catalan Constitution, delivered this Wednesday to the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. In total, the first proposal presented up to now includes 49 articles. The draft also foresees Catalan and Aranese, a language which is spoken in the northern region of Val d’Aran, in the Catalan Pyrenees, as the only official languages of the republic, with Spanish set to have a “special status”. The text will now be sent to several groups so they can study its constitutive process. Among those reviewing the document are the different political groups in Parliament along with civil society associations such as the National Assembly of Catalonia (ANC), the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the association promoting Catalan culture, Òmnium Cultural.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, will be interviewed this Thursday on the radio programme ‘El Balcó’ of Cadena SER radio station. The conversation will take place during Puigdemont’s official trip to London, during which the Catalan President will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at London’s Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. Puigdemont will be in London from Wednesday to Friday, and on the diplomatic trip he will also hold an interview with the BBC and attend business meetings in the financial heart of the city. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after visiting Belgium in the beginning of May.

The Catalan President said that liberal party Convergència Democràtica (CDC) needs to be “renewed” and members should not be afraid of forming a new one, even under a “new name”. “We need new leadership, a new language, new priorities, new ways of governing and to offer new messages to the citizens”, he said in an interview with CNA. The CDC party is celebrating an internal consultation on the 21st of May to decide its own future. Former president Artur Mas and president of CDC said this week that he aims to create a new party, in comments now echoed by his successor in the Government, Carles Puigdemont.

Michael Keating, Director of the Edinburgh-based Centre on Constitutional Change, said in an interview with CNA that “Catalans need Scotland more than Scotland needs Catalonia”, because the Scots “have in recent years been doing much better than the Catalan independence people: they got a referendum, they got the right to self-determination and they got more powers”. The President of the SNP-Friends of Catalonia group, David McDonald, said that he sees similarities between Catalonia and Scotland but warned that the Scottish people “wouldn’t have accepted the kind of censorship or approach” from the UK that Spain takes with Catalonia.

The Catalan President Carles Puigdemont announced that the Government will prepare new legislation to protect the core policies of the social emergency law suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). The new law will include “practical tools with legal security” that will “reformulate” the suspended articles of the legislation but “keep its spirit”. Drafting a new law was the main compromise of the social emergency summit organised on Tuesday by the Catalan Government, the local authorities and the main political parties in Catalonia following the Spanish Government’s legal challenge against the social emergency law. Puigdemont described the negotiations as “long, intense and very useful” and said that the new law is needed “to restore everything the Constitutional Court has suspended”. The meeting, he said, “wasn’t about political discrepancies but about showing that this issue concerns us all”.

On the 3rd of May, the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, spoke at the inauguration of the International Forum on the Reception and Integration of Refugees in the EU. The forum centred on what was described as “the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII”, focusing on its long-term and short-term solutions as well as its “challenges and opportunities”, according to DIPLOCAT, the organising entity. Barcelona’s “willingness” to accept 4,500 asylum seekers, 1,800 of which could be helped immediately, was spoken of by both Colau and Puigdemont. Puigdemont accused the Spanish Government of “ineffectiveness”, having not yet carried out its compromise of accepting 17,000 refugees, while Ada Colau stated that it “isn’t right” that Barcelona doesn’t have more power in deciding its own immigration policies.

The Spanish King has signed this Tuesday the decree calling an early election in Spain. The main political parties have been unable to reach an agreement to form a stable government and so for the first time since the restoration of democracy, the Spanish Congress will be dissolved only five months after a general election. The calling of early elections has been an open secret since last week, when the King already said that he was not going to offer the leader of any political party the task of trying to form a government. Neither conservative Mariano Rajoy nor socialist Pedro Sánchez have the necessary support to win an investiture debate. Sánchez tried to achieve the support of Congress for a government led by him and C’s but was defeated. Rajoy, the current president, did not even try.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, the mayors of Barcelona and other major cities in the country and local associations will meet this Tuesday to discuss a united response to the legal attack against the Catalan Social Emergency Law. The Spanish Government has asked the Constitutional Court (TC) to suspend parts of Law 25/2015, one of the more important legislative initiatives in Catalonia, which aims to protect the most vulnerable against energy cuts and other housing-related causes of poverty. The Catalan Government and the local representatives are expected to find a common strategy to deal with this legal challenge, which they consider a “serious attack” on the Catalan people and its institutions.

London is the chosen destination for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to continue his official visits abroad. He will be in the British capital from the 11th to the 13th of May. There, he will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. The Catalan President “will argue that the majority of Catalans now want independence” and “his government’s timeline for increased autonomy and, ultimately, independence”, according to Chatham House. Puigdemont will hold “informal and discrete” meetings with representatives from the City. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after having visited several cities in Belgium this past weekend.

Less than 24 hours after meeting with her Catalan counterpart, current Spanish Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría announced that some articles of the Catalan law against energy poverty will be taken before the Constitutional Court (TC). Thus, Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras’ demands for the Spanish executive to “reconsider” this procedure haven’t been listened to. However, Santamaría nuanced that those precepts which are in relation to guaranteeing the energy supply to those who may be at social risk are not affected by the suspension. On the other hand, some measures oriented toward avoiding evictions have been suspended. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, responded by saying that this measure leaves “in the open” the most vulnerable families.  

The creation of a joint pro-independence candidature in Catalonia to run for the upcoming Spanish elections on the 26^th of June would show that “sovereignism has won in the world’s eyes”. This is what former Catalan President, Artur Mas, stated in an interview with 8TV. He also admitted to being “willing” to do “whatever it takes” including leading this potential list, as “an act of service”. However, the Catalan pro-independence parties in the Spanish Parliament have different opinions regarding the possibility of running together on the 26-J. While former CDC ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ consider the joint candidature as “the best formula”, left wing pro-independence ERC have insisted that “ideological diversity gets better results”.

Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras met this Thursday with his Spanish counterpart Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría in what Junqueras described as a “very cordial but very difficult” encounter. One of the main subjects laid on the table revolved around the recent suspension of several Catalan laws by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). In reference to this, Junqueras accused the TC of acting according to “political interests” rather than considering those of the citizens and asked Sáenz de Santamaría to reconsider the suspension of the Catalan law against energy poverty, as they announced a few weeks ago. Junqueras regretted that the Spanish executive is only temporary “when it is in their interest”. Junqueras, who is also Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, also referred to Catalonia’s deficit target set by the Spanish government and described it as “unfair, arbitrary and far from what citizens deserve”.

Former Catalan President Artur Mas considers a “disaster” the failure of the negotiations to form a new government in Spain as it proves the lack of “strong leadership” which would be able to act “with generosity, responsibility and a sense of state”. Regarding the possibility of calling for new elections in Spain on the 26^th of June, Mas assured that it “would be a great opportunity for Catalonia” since if the Spanish politics fail, Catalonia “must take advantage of this opportunity to gain a better position in the state’s political scenario”.Mas made these statements during a conference at Paris HEC School during his first official trip abroad since he stepped down as president.