Catalan Government to keep referendum date despite TC suspension

Barcelona (CNA).- “No court decision will change our unequivocal determination to call a referendum this year”, stated Catalan Government Spokeswoman Neus Munté, in relation to the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) suspension of the referendum proposal. She emphasised that the joint resolution to call a referendum on Catalonia’s independence in September 2017, which was passed by governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left pro-independence CUP, emerged from the democratic mandate of the 27-S Catalan elections. In a similar sense, CUP MP Benet Salellas confirmed that the Government’s plan to call a referendum in September remains unchanged. “The TC can suspend the law of gravity, but things will continue to fall on account of their own weight”.

Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté admitted that the TC’s resolution “was not surprising”, not even at “this extraordinary speed and after such a tense week, with the 9-N trial”. However, she insisted that the referendum plans won’t change.

“No court decision will change our unequivocal determination to call a referendum this year”, stated Munté. She also emphasised that the joint resolution which has now been suspended by the TC emerged from the democratic mandate of the 27-S Catalan elections. “These resolutions were discussed and voted for by the Catalan MPs in the Parliament, who were democratically elected, and in accordance with the freedom of speech”, she added.

‘Junts Pel Sí’ accuses Spain of impeding democracy

Governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ Spokesman in the Parliament, Roger Torrent, also commented on the TC suspension of the referendum resolution. He criticised the magistrates’ decision and considered it “the thousandth episode of judicialisation of politics”. In a press conference, Torrent assured that despite this attempt to “restrict” the parliamentarian debate and “impede democracy, ‘Junts Pel Sí’ “will move forward and won’t stop”.

CUP won’t accept “any suspension from the TC”

Radical left pro-independence CUP, the main partner of ‘Junts Pel Sí’ in the Government, “will guarantee” that a referendum is called at the latest in September 2017 regardless of the TC’s suspension. According to CUP MP Benet Salellas, the party “won’t accept any suspension from the TC”. “The TC can suspend the law of gravity, but things will continue to fall on account of their own weight”, he said.

CSQP still bids for an agreed referendum

Joan Coscubiela, Parliament Spokesman for alternative left alliance ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ lamented the TC’s decision but pointed out “alternative options”. According to Coscubiela, the TC’s suspension doesn’t affect all the possible ways to celebrate the consultation, since ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’s proposal to call an agreed referendum “is still alive”.