Spanish Government challenges referendum budget in the court

Barcelona (CNA).- The Catalan budget for 2017, which foresees an allocation for the referendum on independence, will be taken before the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). Last week, the Spanish Government already announced that the bill will be appealed as soon as it was passed and this Friday’s cabinet meeting has confirmed the decision. The main parties in the opposition, Spanish Unionist Ciutadans, Catalan People’s Party (PP) and Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) considered the budget to contradict the Spanish Constitution, since calling a referendum is not an attributed competence of the Government and therefore this authorisation can’t be foreseen in the budget. Indeed, this three parties will join the Spanish Government’s initiative and present an appeal to the bill. The pro-independence parties in the Parliament, governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP backed the bill, which besides considering the referendum, it allocates €17.8 billion to social expenditure. 

The 40th additional provision of the budget, which refers to the possibility to call a referendum either agreed with the Spanish State or unilaterally, has been the main focus of discussion. Indeed, the main parties in the opposition, Spanish Unionist Ciutadans, Catalan People’s Party (PP) and Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) considered the budget to contradict the Spanish Constitution, since calling a referendum is not an attributed competence of the Government and therefore this authorisation can’t be foreseen in the budget.

However, the Spanish Government’s spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, confirmed that “other allocations” have also been appealed.

The Parliament’s legal services already warned on the day the bill was passed that by doing so the chamber could be ignoring the TC. Indeed, the Spanish body called to impede or block any initiative emerged from the pro-independence declaration of the 9-N, which was already suspended.

The budget for 2017 foresees an allocation of €5.8 million to carry out the pro-independence referendum in September. In particular, the draft establishes €5 million for electoral processes and €0.8 million for participation. Moreover, the budget also anticipates the inevitable suspension of the referendum allocation by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) and includes hidden allocations so that it could be carried out anyway.