Puigdemont calls meeting to assess Spain’s ‘no’ to the referendum

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, called all political parties in favor of an independence referendum to a meeting on Monday “to analyze Mariano Rajoy’s negative answer” to Catalonia’s request for a negotiated vote, sources from the government said.  “We are not planning to decide the date and question for the referendum,” the same sources confirmed, after members of the radical left CUP urged the Government to confirm when the referendum will take place. However, the same sources admitted that they might discuss it if “one of the participants” of the meeting “puts the issue on the table”. Governing party Junts pel Sí and radical-left CUP will take part in the summit, as well as Podem Catalunya, the Catalan branch of Podemos. However, Catalunya en Comú, the party of Barcelona’s Mayor Ada Colau, has so far rejected the invitation, arguing that any debates on the referendum should be held in the cross-party National Pact for the Referendum forum, and not in a government-led meeting. 

The meeting on Monday in Barcelona is the first cross-party opportunity to discuss the road-map for a referendum after the last attempt to achieve an agreement with the Spanish government failed last week. But the general coordinator of Catalunya en Comú, Xavier Domènech, said that “what is urgently needed” is a meeting of the National Pact of the Referendum rather than a “governmental meeting”. 

Domènech argued that his party will not attend Puigdemont’s meeting because it aims to “replace” the National Pact for the Referendum (PNR). According to him, the PNR is a “cross-party” forum where all political and civil organizations can “join forces”. “It is better to do these things from a country perspective than a government perspective”, he added. 

In stark contrast, Podem Catalunya, under the leadership of Albano Dante Fachín, confirmed its participation. “It is the first time that we will have the opportunity to learn about how the referendum is planned, so we want to listen to the proposals,” he said.  “We do not plan to discuss the question and date for the referendum, but if one of the participants puts it on the table, we will talk about it”, a Catalan government source said.

The unionist party Ciutadans criticized the meeting and its leader, Albert Rivera, urged the Catalan Government to call early elections. According to him, voting for C’s will “finish this nightmare”. The leader of the People’s Party in Catalonia, Xavier García Albiol, said the meeting is a “threat” to democracy and insisted that the referendum will not happen.