CUP calls for summit to agree on terms of unilateral referendum on independence

Barcelona (CNA).- A unilateral referendum on independence should be agreed as soon as possible and take place within a year. This is radical left pro-independence CUP’s demand and in order to move towards it, they have formally asked Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to convene a summit at Catalan Government headquarters to agree on the terms of this formula. In view of the last Spanish Election results, CUP consider the option to hold a referendum agreed with the Spanish State to be blocked and therefore call for all the parties which are for holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia to attend this summit. Thus, pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and alternative left alliance ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ would have to be there but also alternative left ‘En Comú Podem’, which is not represented in the Catalan Parliament but won the recent Spanish Elections in Catalonia.

A unilateral referendum on independence (RUI, according to its initials in Catalan) has to “necessarily” count on the Government and Parliament’s support so that it could be held “with all the guarantees”. CUP MPs Anna Gabriel and Benet Salellas wanted to nuance that for the referendum to have the required legitimacy “it must count on the participation of all those political forces and individuals which support Catalonia’s independence but also those who don’t”. Thus, they don’t consider the summit they suggest convening “as an action serving only one side but a framework of democratic regeneration”, a purpose which they see as “indispensable”. They also bid for this summit to include “different forces and political sensibilities”.

CUP is calling for the summit to be convened “as soon as possible” and that “a date to exercise the right to decide” be reached before its conclusion. “All the rest will come easily”, stated Salellas, who wanted to differentiate this summit and the celebration of the RUI from the vote of confidence on Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, which will take place in September.  

The anti-capitalists also wanted to make clear that the RUI will also be different from the 9-N symbolic vote on independence, which took place in 2014. On this occasion, CUP wants the Government to lead the process rather than leaving it in the hands of the citizens. Moreover, it will have to promote the participation of all democrats and not only pro-independence supporters.

When Catalan President Carles Puigdemont was instated, pro-independence forces ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and CUP set an 18-month period at the end of which Catalonia would have to be at the gates of independence. Next June, this deadline will expire. Thus, CUP wants the RUI to be held within a year.

Government: “CUP are not in a position to ask for anything” 

CUP’s idea was not very welcomed by the Government. Sources in the executive admitted that there are no plans to convene a summit to tackle the RUI and warned CUP that they “are not in a position to ask for anything”, in reference to the recent disagreement amongst both pro-independence groups regarding the budget for 2016, which couldn’t be passed.