ciutadans

The plenary session to constitute the new Catalan Parliament will be on the 26^th of October next. Current Catalan President, Artur Mas, having used up the maximum legal term for doing so, signed this Wednesday the decree which establishes the constitution of the new chamber. However, there are still some pending issues regarding the composition of the new Catalan Parliament. The negotiations between cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' and radical left pro-independence CUP regarding who will be President have yet to be concluded and the future composition of the Parliament's Bureau isn't clear either, as anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans, alternative-left coalition 'Catalunya Sí que es Pot', Catalan Socialist Party PSC and Catalan People's Party PPC demand that 'Junts Pel Sí' not have an absolute majority in the Bureau. 

Nearly 4,000 Spanish unity supporters and extreme-right forces gathered this Monday in Barcelona’s ‘Plaça de Catalunya’to celebrate Spain’s National Day. Although this time neither the Spanish People’s Party (PP) nor anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans confirmed their attendance, the PP’s leader in Catalonia, Xavier Garcia Albiol, in the end took part in the rally, together with other PP members. With the slogan ‘Barcelona, capital city of Spanishness’, members of Falange –the fascist party of Franco, which is still legal in today’s Spain, groups opposing Catalonia’s independence and retired soldiers displayed Spanish flags, shouted ‘Catalonia is Spain’ and burnt pro-independence flags in the centre of the square. Spain’s National Day commemorates the day Columbus landed in America, in 1492. In Madrid there is a big army exhibition but in the last years the day has been regarded as opposition to Catalonia’s push for independence and other regions of Spain’s exaltation of Spanish nationalism and the denial of other regions autonomy, especially Catalonia and Basque Country.   

The number of lists running for the 27-S Catalan elections is lower than the last time around in 2012; dropping from 79 candidacies to the 40 lists running this year. Moreover, there are many new candidacies that have been designed for the occasion according to the historic nature of the elections that will function as a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence. For the first time ever, new coalitions have been made and civil society organisations have entered the fray.

Anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (C’s) is the youngest party with representation in the Catalan parliament. Founded in 2006, their support has increased dramatically in every election and most of the polls forecast that they will be the second force in the upcoming 27-S elections. Their position regarding Catalonia’s independence is open opposition and they call for reform of the Spanish Constitution. “I’ll do everything in my hands to avoid Catalonia’s independence” assured C’s candidate Inés Arrimadas at a press conference held this Tuesday at CNA headquarters. “We don’t want to think of the reactions to a hypothetical victory of pro-independence forces. We want to beat them, we want to win the Catalan elections” she stated. According to Arrimadas, Ciutadans is the only party which understands the real problems of the citizens “and independence is not a priority for them”. “We focus on the services, not on the institutions” she added.  

This year the electoral campaign for the upcoming 27th of September elections starts on the 11th of September, Catalonia’s National Day. In total 40 lists of candidates are running for the Catalan elections, 39 less than in the last elections in 2012, with many of the candidates being newcomers. This reduction in the number of candidacies is due to the creation of unitary lists made up by coalitions between different parties and even civil society organisations in order to have a wider representation in an election that is set to be a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence. 

The political parties against the referendum on independence have criticised the Catalan Government’s decision to send a letter explaining the country’s political process to the 28 EU leaders and to the President of the European Commission. The Catalan socialists (PSC) think that abroad, the move will be seen as “exotic” and also shows “a complete lack of understanding of international relations”. For the Conservatives of the PP, the letter is “internal propaganda” only aimed at independence supporters and will have “zero international influence”. The spokesperson of Ciutadans (C’s) said the document was like a joke from “April Fool’s Day”. CiU, Mas’ party, regretted that the PSC, the PPC and C’s reacted with “insults and contempt” to each and every one of the Catalan President’s moves.