Spanish president offers Catalonia vote on self-government but not independence

The pro-independence movement has consistently called for a referendum, and while the Spanish government now seems willing to agree to a vote, it would not be on independence, but on a new statute defining the extent of Catalonia’s self-government -but always within Spain.

In a radio in interview on Monday morning, Spanish president Pedro Sánchez suggested resolving the political conflict in Catalonia by a holding “a referendum on self-government, but not one on self-determination.”

Sánchez said his government aims to allow Catalans to vote on a new Statute of Autonomy, which provides the legal framework covering the rights and obligations of citizens in Catalonia, as well as its financing, political institutions and reserved powers.

Catalan Statute changed by court in 2010

“Catalonia has a statute that it didn’t vote for,” said Sánchez, who claimed that it meant there would be no problem in Catalans having their say again on the law. Although Catalonia’s current statute passed a referendum in 2006, Spain’s Constitutional Court changed the text four years later after a legal challenge by the PP party.

Pro-independence reaction

Yet, Sánchez’s proposal did not win over the pro-independence parties. The Esquerra party’s (ERC) spokeswoman rejected the idea. “We have not protested on the streets for 10 years for more self-government or for a new statute,” said Marta Vilalta.