Puigdemont says referendum plan should only be summited to Congress if agreement is reached first

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, replied on Friday to the Spanish Vice President’s invitation to present his referendum plans in the Spanish Congress. Puigdemont said to Soraya Sánez de Santamaría that he would be happy to do so if an agreement between the Catalan Government and the Spanish government is previously reached. In other words, he suggested that the two executives, following the example set by the UK and Scotland in 2014, should agree on the “conditions” for an independence referendum and then submit that agreement to a vote in the Spanish chamber and the Catalan Parliament.

In a brief press conference, Puigdemont celebrated what he considered as a “change in tone” coming from the Spanish government. According to him, the offer to present the referendum plans in Congress is a recognition by the Spanish executive of the possibility of such a vote happening. Puigdemont pointed out that his government will “formally” send a referendum proposal to Madrid. On Monday, the document will be presented during a conference by Puigdemont, Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, and Foreign Affairs Minister, Raül Romeva, in the Spanish capital. The Catalan President explained that the proposal is based on the ideas of the National Pact for the Referendum, which got “hundreds of thousands” of supports, as well as on the mandate of the Catalan parliamentary majority.

The Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, said that the Catalans’ right to self-determination is “inalienable” and urged Madrid to negotiate. “We want to invite the Spanish Government to our conference again on Monday and urge it to withdraw all judicial complaints against the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament for allowing a debate and a vote about the same issue that the Spanish Council of Ministers discussed today in its meeting,” he stressed.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, the Spanish Vice President, admitted in a previous press conference that the Council of Ministers had debated a report that stressed that the Catalan President should present his referendum plans to Congress and not in a conference in the Madrid Town Hall, as it is now planned.