The Spanish Government rejects a Constitution reform once again "because there is no consensus"

Barcelona (ACN).- The Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, asked the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, to abandon his demands to organise a self-determination vote in order to start a dialogue. She was answering Mas's recent petition to PM Mariano Rajoy "to set a day and time" to start talking about Catalonia's political situation and the organisation of a vote to find out Catalans' opinion about their collective future. Sáenz de Santamaría stated that "there was already a day and a time, which was last Tuesday at 4 pm", when the Spanish Parliament rejected the Catalan Parliament's petition to exceptionally transfer the power to organise a non-binding referendum in Catalonia. Sáenz de Santamaría joined the criticism expressed by part of the Spanish establishment for Mas' absence in the debate. However, the Catalan President had justified his absence because the motion debated was a Catalan Parliament's initiative – and not a Government one – and also because the self-determination process is not his own personal plan but a collective initiative backed by many civil society organisations and parties, as well as by a majority of the Catalan population according to all the polls. In the debate, PM Rajoy said that the only possibility was to reform the Constitution. However, Sáenz de Santamaría once again rejected a Constitution reform "because there is no consensus".

In addition, the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister referred to Mas's interview in 'Le Figaro', published this Friday, where the Catalan President says that if a referendum or a consultation vote on Catalonia's independence from Spain is banned, he might call for plebiscite elections. De Santamaría was scornful of this since "elections are for another purpose", which is "to elect the representatives of an Autonomous Community parliament" and not to hold a referendum in disguise. She warned that "a referendum cannot be held whatever the formula", therefore suggesting that the Spanish Government could ban such elections. The Catalan President is the only person who is legally authorised to dismiss the Catalan Parliament and call fo early elections. These elections could turn into a plebiscite if the parties supporting independence included the unilateral declaration of independence as their main electoral proposal.

The Spanish Parliament rejected a non-binding self-determination vote

On Friday, after the weekly Cabinet Meeting, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, offered the traditional press conference, the first one after the debate in the Spanish Parliament. On Tuesday evening the Spanish Parliament rejected a motion to transfer to the Catalan Government the power to organise a specific non-binding self-determination referendum, using Article 150.2 of the Constitution. 86% of all Spanish MPs rejected a motion presented by the Catalan Parliament to this effect, which was backed by some two-thirds of Barcelona’s Chamber. The People’s Party (PP) – which runs the Spanish Government and holds an absolute majority at Madrid’s Parliament -, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) – including the MPs from the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) -, and the minority populist and Spanish nationalist party Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) voted against the motion. The remaining MPs, mostly representing parties from Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, the Canaries and the alternative left, backed it. 299 MPs voted against the Catalan petition, 47 MPs backed it and there was 1 abstention.

Rajoy referred to a hypothetical Constitution reform, which he totally blocks

The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy finally participated in the debate and rejected the petition using his own interpretation of the Constitution, stating that Catalans could not possibly hold a vote on this issue within the current legal framework and therefore he could not authorise it. However, he pointed out that the Constitution could be reformed, although at the same time he has been blocking this way in recent years and has refused to talk about it so far.

The Catalan Parliament representatives stressed that allowing a self-determination vote was only a matter of political will. Furthermore, they stressed that today’s “no” would not stop Catalonia’s self-determination process, since there are other legal ways open. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, did not participate in the debate since it was a parliamentary initiative, but he made an official statement from his office in Barcelona. Mas highlighted that Catalonia's offer to talk will still be there if the Spanish authorities want to negotiate later on. In the debate, Catalan representatives insisted on several occasions on their will "to negotiate about everything". However, Mas also warned that the self-determination process will carry on using other legal and democratic ways.