Party Review – Democràcia i Llibertat: “Voting is the only way we can defend our cause”

Barcelona (CNA).- Liberal CDC, the party currently leading the Catalan Government, is running for the Spanish Elections under another name, 'Democràcia i Llibertat' (Democracy and Freedom). “The name symbolises what we are committed to doing: attaining Catalonia’s freedom through democracy” stated Democràcia i Llibertat’s candidate for Barcelona and former Catalan Minister for the Presidency, Francesc Homs. The coalition includes members from ‘Demòcrates de Catalunya’, the party which split from former CDC partner Christian-Democrat Unió, and ‘Reagrupament’, constituted by former members of left wing ERC. “We have decided to become an independent country, but we want to do it through an agreement with the Spanish institutions” stated Homs “at least we want to try it”.  Homs assured that the international community will be following the Spanish Elections but will pay special attention to “what Catalonia will vote” and see if this vote “has a connection” with the political process that Catalonia is going through. 

“Voting is the only instrument we have to defend our cause” stated Democràcia i Llibertat’s candidate for Barcelona Francesc Homs, “we don’t have any other; however, it is the most valuable in a democratic context”. “Therefore, we must use every opportunity to vote when the ballot boxes are put out, whether we put them out in Catalonia or they are put out in Madrid” he assured.

Starting a negotiation process with Spain

Homs defended the “necessity” to be present in the Spanish Parliament not only to defend Catalonia’s position but also to prove the process and its democratic course to the international community. “We have decided to become an independent country and want to do it through an agreement with the Spanish institutions, at least we want to try it” he stated. “We will go to Madrid to explain our project, to defend these negotiations and to defend an agreement” he stated and added that if this doesn’t ultimately happen “we can prove that we have tried everything and this will legitimise us addressing the international community and asking for their mediation”.

A “necessary” victory of pro-independence forces

The right-hand man of current Catalan President Artur Mas also noted the importance of obtaining a majority support in the Spanish Elections. “The support for pro-independence forces has to be in correspondence with Catalonia’s reality and connected to the social support and the mobilisations that we have seen in this respect” he stated. “Europe and the whole world have been on the lookout for what has happened in Catalonia lately” he noted, “they will view the result of the Spanish Elections, but will also look at what Catalonia has voted, and there has to be a connection with what happened”.

Following this, he warned that if pro-independence forces don’t get a majority support in the 20-D, the Spanish State will use it as an argument against Catalonia’s aspirations. “Even when we win, they question our result, imagine what would happen if the victory wasn’t that clear” he stated. “Catalonia’s push for independence will go on, I can guarantee this” he stated “but we have to avoid giving arguments to our rivals which can be easily used against us”.

“Europe will accept an independent Catalonia”

Regarding Catalonia’s fit within the EU in the event of independence, Homs openly expressed his optimism. “I think Europe will accept an independent Catalonia”. He recalled that seven new independent states have joined the EU in the last twenty years and named Slovenia as an example. “Two days before its declaration of independence, the European institutions and the Spanish government of that time claimed that Slovenia will never be recognised and that it will never join the EU. Slovenia is now a state which has joined the EU normally” he stated. Homs also referred to the last country to join the EU, Croatia. “Why would it be possible for Croatia, whose process came from a war and not for Catalonia, which comes from the ballot boxes? Who could defend that? Nobody could” emphasised Homs. “If we can prove that every time we are given the opportunity to vote we demonstrate that independence is a serious project, which has supporters, EU recognition will only be a matter of time”.

It is normal to spend months constituting a new government

In relation to the internationalisation of Catalonia’s political process and the negotiations between the main pro-independence forces over constituting a new government, the Democràcia i Llibertat candidate assured that this was “normal” in the rest of Europe. “In Belgium, for example, it took more than a year to constitute the new government” he commented, but added that “this won’t be the case in Catalonia”. According to Homs, the international community “will be paying more attention to what Catalonia votes in the 20-D than whether we’ve constituted a new government or not, because they find it normal that we dedicate to it the weeks that we are dedicating”.