catalan constitution

Referendum only accepted by Catalunya en Comú if it is result of bilateral agreement between Madrid and Barcelona

Forum to be led by singer-songwriter and former MP Lluís Llach

Pro-independence forces, governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP, approved this Monday an agreed proposal which foresees the following steps to take on the roadmap towards Catalonia’s independence. The document establishes that the “Constitutive Process” will be divided into three stages: first there will be a participative process amongst the citizens, the second phase will imply passing the so-called three laws of disconnection, calling for new elections and writing the draft of the Catalan Constitution. At this point, the text mentions a “democratic unilateral mechanism which will allow to call for the Constitutive Assembly”, the body which will be responsible for writing the Catalan Constitution. The last stage will be a referendum to put this new Constitution to vote. 

The new Catalan state will be “a citizen and participative republic”, based on a presidential system, without an army but with an “Agency for Security and Defence” which would protect citizens and control the borders. These are some of the points of the first draft that ‘Constituïm’, a group made up of several professionals from different fields that has already put together previous attempts at writing a Catalan Constitution, delivered this Wednesday to the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. In total, the first proposal presented up to now includes 49 articles. The draft also foresees Catalan and Aranese, a language which is spoken in the northern region of Val d’Aran, in the Catalan Pyrenees, as the only official languages of the republic, with Spanish set to have a “special status”. The text will now be sent to several groups so they can study its constitutive process. Among those reviewing the document are the different political groups in Parliament along with civil society associations such as the National Assembly of Catalonia (ANC), the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the association promoting Catalan culture, Òmnium Cultural.

Mas, Junqueras and the three main civil society organisations in Catalonia have signed a roadmap stating that following a victory of the ‘Yes’ parties in the next Catalan election, a new Constitution will be drafted and then voted on in a binding referendum. If Catalans vote ‘Yes’ to the proposed Constitution, independence will be declared no later than 2017.

The political parties and the main civil society organisations that support Catalonia's independence from Spain have agreed that the Catalan Parliament will issue a formal declaration to start building a new state and launch a constituent process, which would be put to a citizen vote at a later stage, if they obtain a parliamentary majority in the September elections. They have been holding a series of talks over the past few weeks in order to agree on a road map that sets out the steps to follow in case pro-independence parties obtain an absolute majority in the next Catalan Parliament elections. These elections have been called early and are being presented as a 'de facto' referendum on independence by the parties supporting this option, since they are the only way to hold a legal vote on this issue after years of the Spanish Government's unilateral blocking attitude.

Barcelona Provincial High Court judge Santiago Vidal, who has openly supported independence, has been expelled from the judiciary for a 3-year period by the Spain’s Judicial Power Council (CGPJ). The sanction is far from unanimous and has been adopted after an 9-hour-long debate among the CGPJ’s 21 members, since the liberal minority was against sanctioning the judge for having written a draft Constitution for an independent Catalonia. However, the conservative majority considered Vidal to have committed a grave mistake regarding his duty to respect the Spanish Constitution. Vidal has been arguing over the past few weeks that such a draft was written in his free time and is part of his freedom of expression and ideology. In addition, he defended himself by saying that when working as a judge, he has always followed the current Constitution and legal framework. After hearing the CGPJ’s decision, Vidal stated that the decision is “political” because he is “hostile to the regime”, “an expression from 40 years ago that I thought I would not hear in democracy”.

Barcelona High Court judge Santiago Vidal, along with a team of other law experts, has presented a proposal for a future Catalan Constitution in the event of independence with the aim to steer debate. The draft includes 97 articles according to which Catalonia would become a parliamentary republic with no army. However, this proposal can be changed as a webpage has been created through which citizens can table amendments online. Along with this draft, two other constitution projects have been presented: ‘constitucio.cat’ created by a team of Catalan law experts living abroad, and another constitution draft presented by ‘Lawyers for independence’ from the National Assembly of Catalonia (ANC). Spain’s Judicial Power Council (CGPJ) has called for the expulsion of Santiago Vidal from the Judiciary for his pro-independence initiatives.

The left-wing pro-independence party ERC has accepted the last proposal put forward by the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, to run separately in early elections but with a large part of civil society representatives and independents being included in the President’s candidacy. However, the ERC has not ruled out the possibility of also including civil society representatives in its own list and wants elections in March. Any such elections should become a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence. The Catalan President accused the ERC of “twisting” his proposal. Furthermore, sources of the Catalan Government criticised the ERC’s “intransigency” because “they have not moved from their initial stance” of running separately in elections taking place this winter. Mas initially wanted to run together but was not particularly in a hurry to call the elections. 

The President of the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has explained his own road map to allow citizens to vote on independence from Spain and build a new state. Junqueras proposed running in immediate early elections through different pro-independence lists with shared elements and opened to independents, in order to respect diversity. The ERC leader differed from the proposal of running through a single electoral list made by the President of the Catalan Government and leader of the centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU, Artur Mas. Junqueras insisted on the need to answer to the social and economic concerns of many citizens in addition to those about independence. Should they altogether obtain a majority, the different pro-independence candidatures should form a national unity government and start building the new state from day one. He particularly emphasised the need to include those who did not voted for independence in the constituent process, which should be finally ratified in a referendum.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, proposed the next steps in Catalonia’s self-determination process: early elections to the Catalan Parliament and, if a single pro-independence list get an absolute majority, negotiations to reach full independence in 18 months. Such a list should be formed by independent personalities and recognised professionals, who should commit to only run once, with traditional parties adopting a secondary role. After negotiating independence and building the new state’s basic structures, a referendum to ratify the new state’s genesis and constituent elections would be called, in which traditional parties would again be running separately. Mas said he was ready to be the front-runner or to end such a list, the latter case ruling out the possibility of his being re-elected. However, he will only call early elections if parties and civil society organisations transform them into such a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence. After years of peaceful citizen mobilisations, now “it is time for the definitive vote” and the “only” way of doing it is through early elections, he said.

The left-wing Catalan independence party ERC, which has shared a parliamentary stability agreement with the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU for the last 2 years, is pushing to begin a new political period. The ERC’s leader, Oriol Junqueras, met on Thursday with the President of the Catalan Government and CiU’s leader, Artur Mas, and confirmed to him that they will not back the new budget for 2015. The evening before, Junqueras had presented his road map for the next few months. The ERC wants early elections now, which would become “constituent elections” if a majority of pro-independence parties were to win. Furthermore, the ERC prefers to run alone, not in a shared electoral list. If Catalans voted for a majority of pro-independence parties, the new Parliament would start building the new state’s basic structures and drafting a Constitution, which would have to be later ratified through a binding referendum.

The Disciplinary Commission of Spain’s Judicial Power Council (CGPJ) will have to decide whether it suspends Santiago Vidal, judge of Barcelona’s High Court, for having worked in his free time on the drafting of a proposal for a future Catalan constitution in the event of independence, together with other law experts. The CGPJ judge in charge of investigating other judges, Antonio Jesús Fonseca-Herrero, recommended Vidal’s temporary suspension for “infidelity to the Constitution” of Spain. On Friday, the Catalan judge defended his freedom of expression and argued that this activity did not affect his work as he was doing it during his free time. The CGPJ decided to investigate Vidal, despite not having done the same with judges participating in activities of the People’s Party political think tank, for instance.