Puigdemont to send “last” referendum proposal to Spain

Granollers (ACN).- The President of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, has announced that in the coming weeks the Spanish government will receive a proposal for dialogue and negotiation over the referendum from the Catalan government. The president said this during his closing speech at the Catalan National Assembly’s annual meeting on Saturday in Granollers. In comments to the CNA, government sources confirmed this will be the last proposal from the Catalans to Spain. In his speech the Catalan president urged the Spanish government to set aside their prejudices and to assume part of the responsibility, which is necessary to solve the problem. “We assume our part and to whatever extent necessary,” he added.

Puigdemont insisted that the only way to move forward after the nightmare of the 2010 sentence against the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia is to hold a referendum, which is the dream for 2017: “the possibility for all citizens to vote and make the decision they deem proper, that everything will be ready for the vote, because it will be possible to vote”. He also expressed his gratitude to the Catalan National Assembly for initiating the Yes campaign.

This was the first time a president of the Catalan government had attended the general assembly of the strongest pro-independence grassroots organization in Catalonia. During his closing remarks, he promised that the Spanish government will receive a proposal “for dialogue and to negotiate the unstoppable will of the Catalan people to vote, to decide, and to exercise their right to self-determination as so many others have done around the world”. The proposal, which will be presented in the coming weeks, is regarded as the last offer of open dialogue by the Catalan government.

Puigdemont said he was convinced that the will to decide has been expressed clearly and continuously by the citizens of Catalonia through ballot boxes, parliamentary elections, surveys and “in the most significant way: through the magnificent, enormous and colossal task of carrying out the Pact for the Referendum, which will be part of the proposal to the Spanish State,” the president added.

In this context, Carles Puigdemont, who did not mention the cancellation of his trip to Morocco, urged the Spanish government “to react to the call of citizens at its door, who want to talk and reason in a civilized manner”. The Catalan president underlined how the expression “to reason” poetically describes a democratic attitude.

The President of the Catalan Government assured that the date and question for the referendum will be made public soon and expressed his gratitude to the independence movement for its confidence, patience, understanding, the mobilizations and its unity. Puigdemont promised that “all this effort will be compensated in the way we have been asking for all those years”. 

The President of the Catalan Parliament, Carme Forcadell, as well as numerous representatives of parliamentary groups, also attended the meeting.

In comments from Brussels, where he attended the European Council, Rajoy again rejected calls for a referendum, accusing Puigdemont of “confusing” people and creating “problems and difficulties”. “It is very difficult to negotiate with someone that says we should do what he says,” Rajoy stated, warning that some Catalan leaders “seem to walk in the opposite direction of time”.