All Catalan MPs apart those from the PSOE and PP refuse to vote on the Constitutional amendment limiting deficit

Madrid (ACN).- The Constitutional amendment limiting public deficit in Spain has been only approved with the votes from the PSOE and the PP. Next Wednesday, the Spanish Senate will have to vote. At the Lower Chamber, four parties decided to quit the plenary room at the moment of the voting, whilst the Catalan moderate nationalists and the Basque moderate nationalists stayed but decided not to vote. They complained about the way the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the People’s Party (PP) have negotiated and agreed on the second constitutional reform without the input of the other parties.

Regarding Catalan MPs, only those from PSOE and PP voted. The rest decided not to vote, either staying into the plenary room or leaving it as a protest. They all think that with regards to this amendment, Catalonia’s fiscal autonomy is reduced and thus Catalonia’s self-government is trimmed.

The Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist ‘Convergència I Unió’ (CiU) finally decided not to vote, as it considers that the Constitutional consensus to have “blown up”. CiU MP Josep Sánchez Llibre said that they have been “excluded” by the two main Spanish parties, the PSOE and the PP. Sánchez Llibre said that the resulting Consitution is “weaker than the one approved in 1978”.

MPs from the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) and the Catalan Green Socialists Party (ICV) decided to leave the plenary room. The ERC stated that the reform is “centralist” and it is an “attack” against Catalonia’s self-governance. He even said that it is a “coup d’état to the constitutional state”. The ICV criticised that “foreign governments and markets” dictate the rules. The ICV stated that the reform is “antisocial” and criticised that it will not be voted on by a referendum. In addition, they also criticised that it reduces Catalonia’s self-governance.

[see related news for more information on the Constitutional amendment and the controversy]