catalan way

The Parliament finally accepted to include the conclusions of the Committee to Study the Constitutive Process, which established the next steps in the pro-independence process, in this Wednesday’s agenda. The decision comes amid controversy over the possible suspension by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC), which claimed that the points agreed by the Committee emerged from the 9-N agreed proposal, which was declared unconstitutional. “We are not doing anything illegal” stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, adding that he considered it “absolutely normal” for the Parliament to discuss the conclusions. In a similar vein, the pro-independence forces, governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP stated that they are due to the democratic mandate which emerged from the 27-S elections.

The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, the two main civil organisations behind the massive pro-independence demonstrations held since 2012 on Catalonia’s National Day, have presented their project for the upcoming mobilisation on the 11^th of September. The new campaign, called ‘A punt’ (‘We are ready’), aims to mobilise Catalans in five different cities all over the territory: Barcelona; Salt, in Girona; Berga, in Central Catalonia; Lleida; and Tarragona. The presidents of both organisations invited all those who support holding a referendum on independence to join the demonstration and explained that the motto ‘A punt’ symbolises two things; that Catalonia “is ready to achieve the republic” and that the citizens have already reached “the final stage” of the pro-independence process. 

Left-wing pro-independence ERC are pushing Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to advance the expected date for him to submit to a vote of confidence. Although the Catalan President has never specified the exact date of the vote, he has repeatedly referred to the second half of September. However, this Monday left-wing pro-independence ERC have called him to do it earlier and before the 11^th of September, Catalonia’s National Day. According to ERC spokesman and MP in the Spanish Parliament, Joan Tardà, this will allow the citizens “to celebrate Catalonia’s National Day with optimism and confidence” since the vote of confidence in the Parliament “will be a great success”. Nevertheless, sources in the Government have told the CNA that Puigdemont doesn’t plan to change the scheduled date. 

The Catalan Democratic Party (PDC), the new political force which has emerged after former governing liberal Convergència decided to reinvent itself, will be led by former Catalan President Artur Mas. “This is a new party because we want a new country”, stated Mas in a press conference on Saturday, after winning the primary election for the PDC’s leadership with 95.07% of votes. The Catalan Government’s spokeswoman, Neus Munté, was designated PDC’s vice president and Marta Pascal and David Bonvehí will be the party’s general coordinators. Pascal insisted that the PDC “has to be a political reference point for the new state” and admitted that a unilateral referendum on independence “is a real option”.

The Government of Aragon has launched a judicial war against the Catalan Government over art from the Monastery of Santa Maria of Sixena, Aragon. The paintings and pieces of art were bought by the Generalitat in the 90s and have been exhibited at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) and the Museum of Lleida ever since. In 2013, the Aragonese Government expressed its determination to “defend the integrity of Aragon’s historic and cultural heritage” and reclaimed the pieces. Despite the Catalan Ministry for Culture having always defended the purchase and struggled to preserve these pieces on two fronts, the murals and the 97 pieces of art, on Tuesday the 53 works housed in MNAC will have to be returned to Aragon.

Catalans living abroad will be able to cast their vote by electronic means by next June. The system, pioneer in Spain, will have to be in accordance with the LOREG, the Spanish Organic Law of General Electoral Regime. According to Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Meritxell Borràs, the electronic vote is within Spain’s legality and, therefore, “it will be nonsense” for the Spanish Government to impede its implementation. The initative will help Catalans living abroad “to exercise a fundamental right”. The LOREG and the ‘requested vote’ system, introduced in 2010, dragged out the whole process and meant more agents being involved, which  resulted in lower participation. Indeed, only 14,000 of the 200,000 people registered to vote were able to cast their ballot on the last Catalan Elections.

The Catalan government has set the maximum alert level for forest fires’ risk in 30 regions, most of them in central Catalonia, due to the high temperatures registered in the last few days, which exceeded 40 degrees in some areas. On Tuesday alone, 86 wild fires hit different regions of Catalonia simultaneously. However, the most important one occurred this Tuesday in Vallbona de les Monges, a small village 40 kilometres west from the city of Lleida. In less than 5 hours, the fire burned nearly 900 hectares, most of them cereal crops. The firefighters sent 55 land resources and 3 aerial’s, which achieved to stabilise the fire by Wednesday morning. However, they continue to water the perimeter to prevent the fire from reviving.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, accepted pro-independence radical left CUP’s demand to hold a meeting “in the coming days” in order to discuss Puigdemont’s approach to the vote of confidence. Indeed, the vote that the Catalan President will submit himself to in September is regarded differently by the two main pro-independence parties in the Parliament. While governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ considers voting in favour of Puigdemont’s presidency and backing the budget for 2017 “indivisible”, CUP understands that renewing the confidence in Puigdemont is part of the agreed pro-independence roadmap but not necessarily linked to the bill. The Catalan President extended the invitation to other political forces as well.

Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, along with former Catalan Vice President, Joana Ortega and former Minister for Education, Irene Rigau won’t be accused for misappropriation of public funds in relation to the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. This is what the public prosecutor announced this Monday, after considering that the expenses related to the non-binding consultation were made before the suspension enacted by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). Nevertheless, the attorneys asked Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) to ignore the accused defences’ petition to file the case and summon the trio for the other crimes included in the lawsuit, which are alleged disobedience and perversion of justice.

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. 

Health organisations in Catalonia received 43.5 MEUR from the EU Horizon 2020 programme to fund projects in this field between 2014 and 2015. This amount represents 42.5% of the total allocated by this European initiative to the Spanish State, according to figures released this Friday by the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), a public business entity which belongs to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Madrid is second on the ranking, with 25.6 MEUR received, followed by the Valencian Community, which got 8.2 MEUR. The Catalan Department for Health has stated that it considers these figures to prove “Catalonia’s clear leadership in health research”.

The terrorist attack which killed 84 people on Thursday night in the French coastal city of Nice, while thousands were celebrating Bastille Day on the streets, has been responded to with international condolences. “Today we want to add Catalonia’s voice to those raised in many democratic countries, which respect freedom and religious and cultural diversity”, stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and referred to Nice’s citizens as “neighbours and brothers”. “France’s mourning is also Catalonia’s”, he added and warned that the terrorists “won’t break [our] cohesion nor dispel the fraternity” towards the victims. Puigdemont’s statement came ahead of the one minute’s silence held on Barcelona’s Plaça Sant Jaume, the square between the Catalan Government’s headquarters and Barcelona’s City Hall.

The 21st edition of the Investment Forum, organised by the public business competitiveness and internationalisation agency ACCIÓ, gathered together 700 entrepreneurs and investors in order to find funding and boost new business projects. This Thursday, at the opening of the Forum, Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, emphasised “the need to build a Catalan network of entrepreneurship” based on the “international synergies” that emerge from events such as the Mobile World Congress and the Smart City Fair. According to Baiget, Catalonia is an international pole for entrepreneurs recognised worldwide and it is necessary to keep on working in other to consolidate it. The Catalan Minister also praised Catalans’ entrepreneurial ability, as they captured 800 MEUR in ‘venture capital’ projects in 2015.

The Spanish Ministry for Home Affairs warned this Thursday that it is highly probable that the new ‘Catalan Democratic Party’, the name chosen for the reinvented liberal ‘Convergència’ (CDC), won’t be registered in the party register. Thus, the Ministry have the same view as that of ‘Democràtes de Catalunya’, the party which split from former CDC partners Christian Democrats ‘Unió’ who consider the name ‘Catalan Democratic Party’ too similar to their own. The Ministry pointed out that there was a previous attempt to register a party with a similar name in 2015 and that it was rejected for the same reasons. Therefore, “the precedent shows that this name can’t be registered”, the Ministry stated. 

The pro-independence parties in the Catalan Chamber, governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP, have expressed their differences regarding the vote of confidence on Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, which will be held in September. While ‘Junts Pel Sí’ consider voting in favour of Puigdemont’s presidency to imply backing the budget for 2017, CUP see things differently and stated that renewing the confidence in Puigdemont is part of the agreed pro-independence roadmap but not necessarily linked to the bill. The Catalan Government’s spokeswoman, Neus Munté, considers the budget an “indispensable tool” for the pro-independence roadmap to move forward.