Sánchez confident ANC will "never" abandon cooperation between parties; unsure about Mas' 27-S proposal

Barcelona (ACN) – The president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Jordi Sánchez, guaranteedThursday that the Assembly will "never" abandon its cross-platform cooperation, nor will it put any portion of its sovereignty to the side. "The day that the ANC defends one side will be the end of the ANC", he said during a press conference at the Born Cultural Centre. Sánchez, however, has asked that his words not be interpreted as a response to the proposal President Artur Mas launched this past Saturday. Mas called for a single, unitary list in favour of Catalan self-determination for the 27-S elections that included civil society organisations. Sánchez did warn that it is "difficult" to accept because there are widely divergent opinions in the internal debate. The Assembly will decide in the coming week how to respond to Artur Mas, and Sánchez pointed out that between "yes" and "no", they will seek other variants.

"I hope that under my watch we never play sides. But we will leave ourselves the skin to require that no one defends their side above all", Sánchez said Thursday at 'Moment Zero', organised by the newspaper 'El Punt/Avui'. The President of the ANC assured that the decision  will be consistent with this maxim and will maintain the cooperation and plurality that has characterised the ANC since its birth.

Sánchez gave hints about his opinion on Artur Mas' proposal, although he said at several points during the event that he was not formally responding. He explained, for example, that "entities mustn't replace political parties", that the ANC "will not defend one side" of separatism and that "it is not easy" to accept a proposal that generates divergent "yes" opinions in the Assembly.

The answer to the President will not come immediately, though. Sánchez said that the ANC will not rush, nor take a "hurried" decision. Next week they will decide "how" to respond to Mas, and he explained that they will seek an answer that is not a simple "yes" or "no." "The ANC will seek the answer, and between 'yes' and 'no,' we can find many variants", he said. Just like the ANC, the Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) will have to make their own decisions, but the goal is to coordinate the response later so that it reaches the President of the Government.

Artur Mas called Jordi Sánchez an hour before publicly presenting his proposal Saturday – the President did the same with Muriel Casals, the President of the Òmnium Cultural. Sánchez said he received the offer with "disbelief" but that there was "sincerity". "We can agree or not with the forms. We can say that we should have been able to meet and talk to him before and be able to discuss it with our governing bodies. We can say that together we amount to more or that we add more when apart. We can say that now is the time to debate or that this debate was already over. But I, as President of the ANC, and particularly as Jordi Sánchez, believe that the President's invitation is sincere, that he wants this country to win", he remarked.

Sanchez denied that citizens have become "disillusioned" by the independence process, but recognised that neither the parties nor the civil society organisations "have been on top of things" these past months. "We probably have not done our homework pertaining to mobilising the people", he lamented. However, there are 94 days until the 27-S, enough time to regain the enthusiasm that has been left on the streets, and to "fill" Meridiana Avenue this 11 September, the Catalan National Day.

The "turbulences" of the separatist process have been made clear in some political parties. The most recent example is the Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC), whose ministers recently left their positions in the Catalan Government because of the independence debate, and which is divided between pro and against independence members. "I see here Antoni Castellà. Thank you very sincerely for what you have done, because no one likes to break apart a family, and what the people of the UDC have done is in part breaking apart a family because of loyalty to a country, to a project", he said. Sánchez told the UDC, but also the ICV and the rest of the parties where there might be members who seek independence, that they must work together after the 27-S to establish the future of the Catalan state.