Catalan President: the only plan is to vote on November 9 and partisan fights have to be kept aside

Barcelona (ACN).- After doubts generated in the last few days around the possibility of postponing next November's independence vote if Spain bans it, and Tuesday's quarrel about this issue among the parties and civil society organisations supporting self-determination, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, has cooled tensions down . On Wednesday, Mas emphasised that the Catalan Government's "only plan is to vote" on this 9th of November, as was agreed among a wide majority of parties. Mas also asked that the parties put partisanship aside and "to take risks and [act] smartly". He stated that, if the Spanish authorities ban the self-determination vote, the Catalan reaction will be agreed among all the parties supporting such a vote. With these words, Mas rejected the idea that the Catalan Government will automatically postpone the vote if the Constitutional Court bans it, as was suggested on Tuesday by the Catalan Vice President, Joana Ortega. Her words, added to previous statements from other members of the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU, launched an immediate response from all the other political parties and the main civil society organisations supporting self-determination. They all replied to Ortega, saying that Catalans had to vote on that day since the right to self-determination was not negotiable and was not in the hands of the Spanish authorities. In addition, the left-wing Catalan independence party ERC, which shares a parliamentary stability agreement with the CiU, suggested that the Catalan Government could fall if citizens did not vote on the 9^th of November. On Wednesday, one of ERC's main figures, MP Alfred Bosch, stated that if Mas' plan is to vote on the 9^th of November, they will be there "to help and push as much as needed". On top of this, he added that he wants to carry on with the self-determination vote on that day "even if the Spanish Government does something nonsensical".

After Tuesday's political storm, the Catalan President cooled the atmosphere down in order to keep the self-determination front united. In fact, Artur Mas referred to the previous day controversy by saying that it had been "a storm within a glass of water". The Catalan President ironically added that during the August summer holidays, small arguments tend to occupy front-pages.

Mas made such statements in an event commemorating the 300 years of the Talamanca Battle, which took place a month before Catalonia lost the Spanish Succession War and was totally conquered by the Bourbon troops on the 11^th September 1714. On that day, which is Catalonia's National Day, Barcelona was invaded and in the following days, a brutal political, economic, social and cultural repression started, which lasted for many decades and had repeated episodes within the next three centuries. In 1714, Catalonia lost its self-government, its own laws and was annexed to Castile following "the conqueror's right", as the King Felipe V wrote in the decrees setting up Catalonia's new fate. On that year and with Catalonia's subjugation, Spain was born as a Unitarian State, as before it was a dynastic union of different kingdoms under the same crown.

In his speech in Talamanca, the Catalan President, insisted that in the coming weeks and months, those supporting self-determination would have to act with "unity, courage and intelligence". "Only this way we will be able to win". Mas explained once again that he will call the self-determination vote on the 9^th of November based on the Catalan Parliament's Law on Consultation Vote, foreseen in 2006 Statute of Autonomy and to be approved next September. Then he added that "depending on" how the Spanish authorities answer to Mas' call, "we will see how we react", although "the only plan is to vote". However, he underlined that "when important decisions are taken", he will "consult them with the other parties which are backing the 9^th of November vote". In this way, Mas wanted to stop speculations about unilaterally deciding to postpone the vote.

Mas also sent a broader message to those who have "a legitimate fear" about the future and the political process that is going on. The Catalan President said that "if you fight, you can lose, but if you do not fight, you have already lost". In addition, "if you do not fight, on top of losing, it is mostly done with little dignity and it is the worst thing that can be done", he stressed. According to him, considering the current state of affairs, "not fighting is losing". Mas made a comparison with the situation in 1714, saying that now and back then, Catalonia's claims are the same: "we want to govern ourselves freely". It needs to be added that, on manifold occasions, Mas has always ruled out any violent action to defend Catalonia's right to self-determination and independence from Spain. He has stressed many times that Catalonia's fight is a non-violent one, a peaceful one, which has to be based on democracy and freedom.