Catalan president calls for 'new talks' with Spain to 'let Catalonia vote'

"Now is the time," Catalan president Pere Aragonès said during his televised speech on Sunday night ahead of Catalonia's National Day on Monday. Aragonès called for "new talks" with the Spanish government to "set up the first stones to let Catalonia vote on the territory's future."

"We will be stronger if we add up efforts and work together to be able to take all the chances that are offered to us," he said. "The path is clear, and with time, we have welcomed more people who follow those ideas: strength, negotiation, and democracy."

During the speech, Aragonès considered that the "amnesty, by itself, does not solve the issue of governability with Spain," in reference to the requests made by the pro-independence party, Junts, as a prerequisite ahead of talks to back Socialist Pedro Sánchez prime ministerial bid.

The Catalan president praised the key role of the Catalan pro-independence parties in the Spanish congress after July's vote. The leader continued saying that the territory "wants to vote freely on the independence," and it will not be until then that the "independence push will continue."

Aragonès, an Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya member, met with Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez during the last term to talk about the independence push, defending a peaceful negotiated process. Meanwhile, Junts has had a more confrontational position against the Socialists and advocates for a unilateral split from Spain.

"Ceasing all kinds of repression is an essential condition to start a negotiation between equals. This is why we are forcing the Spanish government to make all kinds of steps toward amnesty," Aragonès added.

Amnesty has to be considered as "essential and inevitable as we have been advocating for since day one. This is the way," the speech, broadcasted on prime time at 9 pm, continued. 

Rodalies commuter trains and fiscal deficit

Forecasting the future, Pere Aragonès welcomed Catalonia's eight million inhabitants (7,747,709 people as of January 1, 2022). The territory is "currently limited by a fiscal deficit, which blocks us from having the welfare system that we deserve, and the management of our infrastructure made from outside our territory, such as Rodalies commuter train services."

Aragonès called on letting Catalonia manage such infrastructure and to return the fiscal deficit, as "what we have to do now is focus on the challenges ahead and solve them as Catalans, creating new opportunities," he said.

"Catalonia blocked far-right," he added in a reference to the results of the 2023 Spanish election. "Catalonia has the key to Spain's governability, this is why we have to take advantage and make possible what it was impossible until now."

"Amnesty to guarantee that no one else will be jailed and for those in exile to return freely. The immediate improvement of the welfare system and handling the management of Rodalies to Catalan authorities," he listed.

Language 'a key tool' for equal opportunities

This year's 'La Diada,' Catalonia's National Day, honors the use of the Catalan language, especially after Spain requested to make it an official language in European institutions after a deal to back the Socialists in keeping the Spanish congress speaker position, the third highest ranking post in Spain, after the monarch and the prime minister.

"Steps such as using the Catalan language as a working language in the Spanish congress are very important. These represent a huge step forward for the recognition of Catalonia," Aragonès said.

"We have to be aware that institutional recognition is not enough," he warned before adding that Catalans "have the historic responsibility to keep the language alive, and this is only possible if everyone speaks in Catalan everywhere."

Following several judicial battles to strip the Catalan immersion system and to impose 25% of courses in Spanish, Aragonès said that "strengthening the use of Catalan in schools is a key tool for equity and equal opportunities."

Message to Morocco

At the start of his speech, Pere Aragonès gave his condolences to all the "victims and their families" and wished "a prompt recovery to all those injured" in Morocco after Friday's earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale that has left over 2,100 victims and 2,400 injured.

"I am reassured that, once again, Catalonia will show its solidarity with those affected by humanitarian catastrophes."