The Catalan Parliament approves requesting the Spanish Parliament to authorise a self-determination vote

Barcelona (ACN).- On the third and last day of the Debate on General Policy – which is Catalonia’s main annual debate, the Catalan Parliament has approved a motion to formally request the Spanish Parliament to authorise a self-determination vote in Catalonia. In addition, the Catalan Chamber has also approved setting up the exact date, question and legal process for the self-determination vote before the end of the year. The resolution was approved with 65% of the Catalan Parliament’s members voting in favour. However, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) – which is part of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) – finally decided to vote against the text. The request was approved with the votes of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) – which runs the Catalan Government, the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC), the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA) and the radical left wing and independence party CUP. The PSC, the Conservative People’s Party (PP) – which runs the Spanish Government – and the anti-Catalan nationalist and populist party Ciutadans (C’s) voted against.

The PSC votes for a text recognising Catalonia’s right to self-determination

However, the PSC voted for another text recognising Catalonia’s right to self-determination, emphasising that Catalans have the right to decide on their collective future. The text also presses for negotiations with the Spanish State on the legal way to allow Catalans to exercise such right. The text was written by the former President of the Catalan Parliament, Joan Rigol, a veteran and respected Christian-Democrat politician from the CiU. Rigol was asked to write such a text as a synthesis of the first meeting of the Self-Determination Pact, which took place in late June. Rigol’s text was voted in with the support of 77% of the Catalan Parliament, with the positive votes of 4 of the 7 political groups: CiU, ERC, PSC and ICV-EUiA. The CUP abstained and the Spanish nationalist parties PP and C’s voted against it.

The PSC argued that it had supported Rigol’s text but not the other one – which was taking the self-determination vote to the Spanish Parliament – because the second document is rushing things. The PSC opposes Catalonia’s independence from Spain and has only been   supporting Catalonia’s right to self-determination since last year. However, it also faces the fact that the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) – to which it is federated – completely opposes Catalonia’s right to self-determination, and several voices within the PSOE have been denouncing the PSC’s stance.

The Catalan Tax Administration to have the capacity to collect all taxes in Catalonia by mid-2014

The Catalan Parliament also approved a resolution for the Catalan Tax Administration to reach full operability and have the capacity to collect all the taxes generated in Catalonia before the end of next year’s first semester. This means that the Parliament is requesting the Catalan Government to make the necessary arrangements to guarantee that the recently created Tax Administration should be able to collect all the taxes generated by Catalan citizens and companies by the end of June 2014. The text approved requests that the Catalan Government’s 2014 budget has to include a budget line for this institution, in order to create a Catalan corps of tax inspectors. This institution was created just a year ago, as one of the main “state structures” Catalonia should build within the next few years. The resolution was voted in by the governing CiU and ERC. The ICV-EUiA and CUP abstained and the PSC, PP and C’s voted against.