Catalan Government insists in its "unequivocal commitment" to November self-determination vote

Barcelona (ACN).- "The time for speculation is over; now it is time for decisions, and this goes for everybody", stated the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government and Minister for the Presidency, Francesc Homs, on Tuesday after the first Cabinet Meeting held after the summer break. Homs was referring to the Spanish Prime Minister's monolithic opposition to the self-determination vote and to the warning sent on Tuesday morning by the leader of the left-wing independence party ERC, Oriol Junqueras. The ERC President said he "cannot imagine" somebody "breaking the enormous unity" around the independence consultation vote, scheduled for the 9^th of November, which is "the only scenario" agreed on.  In this vein, Junqueras emphasised that they will back the Catalan Government in the future if "current agreements are honoured". Homs insisted in the Catalan Government's "unequivocal commitment" to such a vote. However, he rejected making any speculation on how Catalan authorities should react "to things that have not passed", referring to the likely ban from the Spanish Constitutional Court to the November vote. The Catalan Executive's Spokesperson underlined that the agreement to hold a self-determination vote has "a solid" support in the Catalan Parliament and among the Catalan society. In fact, the agreement was backed by a two-third majority of the Chamber and all the polls published in the last two years indicate that between 75% and 80% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination vote. On top of this, the recently-formed alternative left party Podemos – which won 5 seats in the last European Parliament elections – suggested on Tuesday that "civil disobedience" should be enacted in order to hold the self-determination vote on the 9^th of November if the Constitutional Court bans it. Such a party is not present in the Catalan Parliament and did not explicitly back the agreement reached in last December to hold a self-determination vote in November 2014, since Podemos was created less than half a year ago. However, polls indicate that it could become Spain's third largest party.

"We are entering into a new stage", stated the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government on Tuesday. "The time for speculation is over; now it's time for decisions, and this goes for everybody", he emphasised. In this vein, Homs stated that the Catalan Government will take decisions "following the agreements" that were reached.

In addition, Homs refused to speculate on possible bans from the Spanish Constitutional Court. In any case, he stressed that the Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, "is making a mistake" by not allowing Catalans to vote. "You can support one thing or be against it, and all the stances are totally legitimate, but being against voting is absurd in a democratic context", stated the Catalan Minister. "The will to vote and the exercise of democracy are not a challenge nor an illegal act by definition, but they are an opportunity for all of us", the Catalan Spokesperson added.

"We have never heard [Merkel] to criticise Scotland's vote"

Furthermore, he referred to Angela Merkel's support to Rajoy's stance. "We have never heard [Merkel] to criticise Scotland's vote", stated the Catalan Minister. In this vein, Homs stated that the main difference between the Scottish and Catalan cases is the attitude of the Spanish and British Governments. The first one bans holding a vote and the second one listens to the people's will to vote, despite having a very precise idea of what Scotland should be.