Catalan President foresees a “clear” self-determination question backed by “a wide majority”

Barcelona (ACN).- The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, said that he is “convinced” that parties will be able to agree on a “clear” question for the self-determination vote. On Wednesday, before the Catalan Parliament, Mas added he believes that the question’s exact formulation will be supported by “a wide majority” of parties. He highlighted the need for a clear question, as in Scotland’s referendum, in order not to “allow different interpretations on the following day”.  Mas pledged the parties to reach a wide consensus on the exact question, date and legal way to organise the self-determination vote, because “a part of Catalonia’s strength lies here”, he said. Parties supporting the organisation of such a vote have publicly stated they were committed to reach an agreement before the end of the year, meaning within the next 4 weeks. The Catalan President ratified this announcement a few days ago.

Parties supporting Catalonia’s right to self-determination and the organisation of an independence vote are very close to reaching an agreement on the exact question citizens would be voting on, as well as the exact date and legal way to organise such a vote. After many weeks of intense debate, parties are facing the decisive days. After the summer, parties agreed on reaching such a decision before the end of the year. However, since the discussion was advancing quite fast, the agreement was expected for early December. As the decision time was getting nearer, each party became more attached to their stances and they finally decided to allow themselves a few more days to discuss the matter. In late November they announced that, as initially foreseen, they would reach an agreement by the end of the year, but not earlier.

On Wednesday, the President of the Catalan Executive and leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), replied to the leader of the Catalan Green Socialist Party (ICV-EUiA), Joan Herrera, at the Parliament’s Government Control Session. Herrera highlighted the importance to reach the “widest possible consensus” on the self-determination vote’s question, date and legal framework to organise it. Mas answered that he shared similar views and that he believed that such a consensus will be reached within the next weeks.

However, at the same time, Mas underlined that the question has to be “clear”, as otherwise the vote results would allow for many different interpretations. In the last few weeks there has been a significant debate on whether “clear” obligatorily means including the word “independence” or not. ICV-EUiA would be proposing a more open question, in order to satisfy those supporting a federal Spain with Catalonia having greater self-government powers. However, it seems to be a certain consensus that the question should be answered by a “yes” or a “no”.