catalonia's push for independence

Catalonia’s demand to hold a referendum and the imputation of several Catalan representatives were two common issues during the last part of the second day of the debate to elect a new Spanish premier. The divergence of opinions between the Catalan pro-independence forces and the Conservative People’s Party were once again evident. While the current Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, denied the judicialisation of the Catalan politics and expressed his “willingness to dialogue”, despite the Catalan Government policy of “all or nothing”, the spokesman of the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDECat), Francesc Homs, accused PP of being “the motor of the Catalan disconnection”. Mariano will have to face two more days of debate to be invested as President, as the politician will predictably lose the vote taking place this evening. 

The independence process in Catalonia has awoken international interest. Proof of this is the friendship group with Catalonia that Swiss MPs from different parties will set up in the Federal Assembly. The Delegate of the Catalan Government to France and Switzerland, Martí Anglada, celebrated the “plural and transversal component” of the initiative, which goes beyond political ideologies. Anglada also emphasised the importance of a country “which is a point of reference in terms of democratic quality, direct democracy and international mediation tradition” showing its friendship toward the Catalan people “in the middle of the independence process”. Other countries, such as Estonia, have also set up friendship groups with Catalonia in their Parliament.

Radical left pro-independence CUP have formally asked Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to convene a summit at Catalan Government headquarters in order to agree on the terms of a unilateral referendum on independence. This is CUP’s preferred formula, since in view of the last Spanish Election results, they consider ultimately holding a referendum in Catalonia agreed with the Spanish State to be no longer possible. CUP has suggested inviting to this summit all groups which are for holding a referendum, meaning pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, alternative left alliance ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ and also alternative left ‘En Comú Podem’, which is not represented in the Catalan Parliament but won the recent Spanish Elections in Catalonia. According to CUP, the unilateral referendum on independence should be “binding” and take place within a year.

“This official trip and the meetings we have held prove that Catalonia’s political process generates international interest”, stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, on the last day of his official trip to London. Indeed, this is so much the case that Spain’s government sent two officials to the British capital in order to “counteract the explanations that the Catalan government has been giving first hand”, he lamented. Puigdemont made these statements on his last day in London, while visiting the headquarters of the Catalan bank ‘Banc de Sabadell’ in the City. “The European political, economic and social agents want to know first-hand what’s going on in Catalonia and why” assured Puigdemont, which “refutes the Spanish mantra, according to which the Catalan process doesn’t interest anybody”. 

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, gave the talk ‘Mapping the path towards Catalan independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. In front of nearly 200 international professionals from different fields, Puigdemont described Catalonia’s process for becoming a new state and said that he is convinced that “when the time comes” the European Union “will show its big ability to adapt” and will not let Catalonia, “whose economy represents 2% of the European GDP”, go. “We will adopt the 3,363 international treaties which Spain has signed in order to be perfectly integrated within the context of the free and democratic nations worldwide”, he added. The conference at Chatham House was one of the highlights of Puigdemont’s official trip to London, which will finish this Friday. 

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and Spanish alternative left ‘Podemos’Secretary General, Pablo Iglesias, met this Friday at Palau de la Generalitat. Iglesias assured before the media that he transmitted to Puigdemont his “compromise regarding the celebration of a referendum in Catalonia” which is “the best solution to the current deadlock”. “Catalan society has to decide and the vast majority of Catalans want to do so”, he stated. The Catalan government’s spokeswoman, Neus Munté, explained the content of the meeting to the media and emphasised “Puigdemont’s intention to keep the roadmap”towards independence “which will continue to be developed”regardless of the negotiations to form a new government in Spain. The meeting comes one day after the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’and Podemos met to discuss a possible triple agreement to form an alternative government to that currently ruling in Spain, composed by the conservative People’s Party (PP). 

Pro-independence radical left CUP presented a document analysing the recent political strategy regarding Catalonia’s push for independence and the steps to be taken in the near future. The document sets an ultimatum to Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and his government to keep the commitment in relation to the agreed roadmap towards independence. CUP urge pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’to make a clear step “on the way towards the rupture”by the 10^th of January, when the government will celebrate its first year in office. Otherwise, CUP will consider these 12 months “a fraud”and will therefore promote “a change of paradigm”. The document also nuances that this step has to “turn”the “contention”expressed so far in the government’s political and public discourse.

Spain’s executive position in relation to Catalonia’s push for independence and its “refusal to budge” concerns the international community. Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, former MEP Raül Romeva, explained this Friday that none of the diplomats he has talked to so far understand why “there is no one at the other end of the table”to discuss the situation in Catalonia. According to him, the international community rejects Spain’s executive campaign to confront both “politically and judicially”and tackle the situation in Catalonia through the court. Romeva also added that the perception that Catalonia’s push for independence and its future relationship with Spain is an internal matter is changing, and the international community is becoming aware that it is a topic which may also affect them.

The current Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, announced that the processing of the three laws which would prepare Catalonia for its disconnection process from Spain may be taken before the court. According to Rajoy, Spain’s legal services will analyse these laws and if evidence that they “could contradict what it is said in the Constitution” is found “the Spanish government will act as is has done up to now”. “The government is temporary, but the State, the Constitution and the laws are still in force” he warned. Rajoy also announced that the executive will approve this Friday a conflict of jurisdiction to be presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court regarding the creation of the new Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 

If Catalonia proclaims its independence, the international community will in the end “accommodate itself to the new reality”, stated former Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson. “Don’t be scared by scaremongering. In the end, all nations and all political leaders have to accommodate themselves to new realities” he assured in an interview with CNA. Although he predicted that proclaiming independence outside of the law will at first be considered “illegal” for the international community, “freezing Catalonia out forever” would be “nonsense”. Baldvin Hannibalsson recognised the Baltic States’ independence in 1991, when neither the United States nor the European powers dared to do so for fear of confronting the USSR.

The negotiations between pro-independence forces radical left CUP and cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ to constitute a new government in Catalonia are continuing. The results of the 20-D Spanish Elections and the victory of alternative left coalition En Comú Podem in Catalonia and the good result of left wing ERC show that Catalonia is turning to the left, according to CUP. The party has therefore reinforced their ‘no’ to instating Artur Mas as Catalan President and has called on ‘Junts Pel Sí’ to propose “an alternative presidency which could generate a greater consensus”. CUP has also invited En Comú Podem and their partners in the Catalan Parliament, Catalunya Sí que es Pot, to join the “constitutive process of the Catalan Republic”.

This Sunday, more than 35 million Spanish citizens are entitled to elect the 350 MPs in the Spanish Parliament and the 208 members of the Senate. Election Day will take place less than three months after the 27-S Catalan elections, which saw the victory of pro-independence forces – a fact that has definitely focused the electoral campaign and the main parties’ programmes. The 20-D Spanish Elections are also set to be crucial as they may mark the end of the two-party system in Spain comprised of the Conservative People’s Party, PP, and the Spanish Socialist Party, PSOE, which have alternated in the Spanish government since 1982. Two new parties are set to burst into the Spanish Parliament and may have a key role in the post-electoral agreements: anti-Catalan nationalism ‘Ciutadans’ and alternative left ‘Podemos’. They have both shown their force and popular support in the past European, regional and local elections.

PPC, the Catalan branch of the conservative People’s Party aims to return the trust of all those citizens who supported the party in 2011 when the PP obtained an absolute majority. “We still have time” stated PPC’s candidate for the Spanish Elections in Barcelona province, Jorge Fernández Díaz who is currently Spanish Minister for Home Affairs. He urged Catalans to “fill the ballot boxes with national pride, seriousness, rigour and hope” and accused the pro-independence forces of being “traitors” for “breaking the constitutional agreement” and assured that “nobody has ever dared to go this far”. According to Fernández Díaz, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is the only guarantee “to get rid of the toxic process which is dividing Catalans” and assured that Spain “is not for sale, nor likely to be broken”.