Parliament reaffirms the pro-independence proposal approved on the 9-N

Barcelona (CNA).- The roadmap to start building the Catalan Republic, which was approved by the Parliament on the 9th of November and later suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has been reaffirmed this Thursday. The Pro-independence forces in the Catalan Parliament, governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP, supported the motion presented this week by CUP which aimed to relight the proposal and follow the democratic mandate that emerged from the 27-S elections. Thus, 71 MPS of the 135 sitting in the Parliament voted in favour, while the 11 MPs from alternative left ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ have abstained. Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’, Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and Catalan People’s Party (PPC), which is the Catalan branch of the conservative and current governing party in Spain PP, voted against the motion. “We are here to do what we said we would do” stated ‘Junts Pel Sí’ MP, songwriter and anti-Franco activist, Lluís Llach. On the other hand, PPC’s Xavier García Albiol stated that the vote didn’t mean anything as “Catalonia will continue to be Spain, whether you like it or not”.

CUP’s motion to emphasise the pro-independence declaration agreed by the Parliament on the 9^th of November has been approved by 55.7% of the votes cast. According to Llach, the 72 pro-independence MPs in the Catalan Chamber have now confirmed that they will “carry on”and that they are “absolutely committed”to the 27-S democratic mandate. “We are here to do what we said we would do and that is why the electors voted for us”, he added. 

For his part, CUP MP Joan Garriga assured that CUP didn’t present the motion “to provoke or to enhance their political profile”but to “fortify and create the basis of the Catalan Republic and reaffirm, once again, the commitment to the contents of the 9-N proposal”. According to Garriga, CUP’s goal is to represent the voice of the social movements and “accelerate the process”by “being proactive and sensitive at the sight of any sign of renouncing or deceleration of the process”.

On the other hand, ‘Ciutadans’, PSC and PPC insisted on the illegality of the 9-N proposal. “This vote is useless, as Catalonia will continue to be Spain, whether you like it or not”, warned PPC MP Xavier García Albiol. 

“Today is a dark day for this Chamber”assured ‘Ciutadans’MP Carlos Carrizosa and added that CUP’s motion “seeks direct conflict”. According to PSC, the document puts the Catalan institutions “beyond the Rule of Law”.

The whole motion was not approved

However, earlier this week ‘Junts Pel Sí’nuanced the text presented by CUP and didn’t support it in its entirety. The governing cross-party list voted against a point which called the Catalan Police, Mossos d’Esquadra, to disregard those requirements from the Spanish 'Audiencia Nacional', which is a court investigating and ruling on organised crime, terrorism and international fiscal offences, in relation to the pro-independence process. Another point which hasn’t been approved refers to “encouraging the elected representatives to continue disregarding the petitions of the non-democratic [Spanish] State”.

The history of the pro-independence proposal and its later suspension

The proposal reaffirmed this Thursday established the “will to start the negotiations in order to make the democratic mandate of creating a new independent Catalan State effective”and communicate this to the Spanish State, the EU and the international community as a whole. “The process of democratic disconnection won’t be subject to Spanish institutions’ decisions, particularly those from the Spanish Constitutional Court, which is regarded as discredited and without competences” states the declaration’s text, which also urges the new government to “obey exclusively those mandates produced”by the Parliament.

The agreed proposal was approved by the Catalan Chamber on the 9^th of November, exactly one year after the symbolic vote on independence was held. Less than a month afterwards, on the 2^nd of December, the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) unanimously declared the Parliament's proposal unconstitutional and, therefore, invalid. The TC made its decision in record time, only 22 days after the appeal presented by the Spanish executive was accepted, which made this resolution the fastest in the TC's history. The magistrates considered that the agreed pro-independence proposal violated core articles of the Spanish Constitution, such as "the indivisible unity of Spain" and "the subjection of the public powers to the law" and also "attacks the Rule of Law”.

The TC's resolution warned that the Spanish Constitution was "the supreme law" and pointed out that the sovereignty comes from Spain's "unity". In the 33 pages which compound the resolution, the magistrates assured that the declaration violated five articles of the Spanish Constitution and two of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy and admitted that although the text is only a declaration "it could generate its own legal effects".

The Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, described the TC's resolution as "political" and "predictable" and assured that the credibility of the Spanish Constitutional Court means "almost zero" to the Catalan Government.