elections

The much awaited meeting between the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, has finally been announced for Wednesday 30^th of July at 11am, after both politicians have stated during several months that they were open to talk. In the meeting they will discuss the institutional and social affairs related to the economic crisis, but they should also talk about the organisation of a self-determination vote in Catalonia. However, Rajoy has rejected to talk about it, as he considers it "an absurd" debate, despite the fact that 80% of Catalans want to hold such a vote and it is the main topic in Catalonia's political agenda, and probably in Spain's as well. Besides, on Monday 28^th of July, Rajoy will meet Pedro Sánchez, the new Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), who is also against Catalonia's self-determination and offered his will to reach agreements on "the territorial model".

Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, who was the Secretary General of the centre-right pro-Catalan State two-party coalition CiU, quit his post on Monday in the middle of the tensions for the self-determination vote and Catalonia's potential independence from Spain. However, Duran will continue to lead the Christian-Democrat party within the CiU (UDC) and to be the CiU's strong man in Madrid. In addition, one of his closest allies within UDC, Ramon Espadaler, will take his place as Secretary General. Duran is against independence, although he supports building a Catalan State within a Confederated Spain as well as the self-determination vote scheduled on the 9^th of November. However, since a wide majority of people within the CiU would vote for independence (including the Catalan President, Artur Mas), internal tensions for Duran's personal stance have increased. Furthermore, there are increasing rumours that the CiU could break up for the first time in more than three decades.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, stated on Wednesday that he "will not join absurd debates" and will not "participate in the game" to negotiate Catalonia's self-determination vote since "the referendum is illegal and will not take place". Ironically, Rajoy accepted the request of the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, to meet, but he has specifically rejected to talk about the purpose of the interview: the self-determination vote. In addition, the Spanish PM has downplayed the agreement backed by a two-third majority of the Catalan Parliament, which was answering a mandate resulting from the 2012 Catalan elections. On the same day the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, rejected "reinventing Spain" to better fit Catalans and therefore ruled out a deep Constitutional Reform. In addition, he also rejected setting up a new fiscal scheme for Catalonia, similar to the one that the Basque Country already has.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, agrees to meet with the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, who sent an official request last week, before the end of July. However, the Spanish PM wants to hold "a public meeting" and not "a discrete" talk, as the Catalan President suggested. Over the past few weeks, both Rajoy and Mas have been insisting they were willing to talk to each other but neither one of them was taking the formal steps to arrange a meeting. The last official meeting between the two of them was held a year ago, without taking into account the moments the two of them have coincided at the same event and have exchanged protocol words. Furthermore, before meeting with Mas, Rajoy received on Monday representatives from the pro-Spanish unity NGO Societat Civil Catalana, founded a few months ago. In all those years, Rajoy has not officially met with the grass-roots organisations organising the massive independence demonstrations in Catalonia.

Madrid-born Pedro Sánchez won the primaries of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) with 48% of the votes and will be elected the party's new Secretary General, replacing Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. Meanwhile, Miquel Iceta received 85% of the votes and will replace Pere Navarro as the new Secretary General of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), being the only candidate in these primaries. Both of them share the previous leaderships' views on Catalonia's self-determination process: they oppose independence and November's consultation vote. Both the PSOE and the PSC held elections on Sunday but the primaries' winners will be officially elected by the emergency party congresses to be held over the next two weekends. Sánchez defeated Eduardo Madina (36%) and José Antonio Pérez Tápias (15%), who was the only candidate fully supporting Catalonia's self-determination vote and shaping Spain as a pluri-national state.

Despite the fact that the International Liberal-Democrats explicitly recognised Catalonia's right to self-determination in their last congress in April, their group within the European Parliament (ALDE) has finally accepted 6 MEPs from the Spanish nationalist and populist parties Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) and Ciutadans (C's), who totally oppose this principle. Desperately looking for seats in order to continue being the 3^rd largest political group within the Euro-Chamber, the ALDE leadership proposed to accept the membership request from UPyD and C's, who would bring 4 and 2 MEPs respectively, despite the strong protests from the Catalan Liberal party CDC (which is part of the governing Convergencia i Unió coalition, CiU) and the Basque National Party (PNV). The members of the ALDE finally voted to accept UPyD and C's MEPs, but they also approved the creation of a sub-group defending Catalonia's self-determination.

Eduardo Madina, who is probably the person best positioned to become the new Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) in July, stated he "is not scared" of citizen participation if it is "legal", when asked about Catalonia's self-determination vote scheduled on 9 November.  In a radio interview on Monday, Madina emphasised that "if there are possibilities to reach an agreement within the legal framework, the citizen participation mechanisms through legal methods seem alright to me". He added, "If everything is done within the legal framework, I am not scared of citizen participation". He also insisted that the Spanish Constitution can be reformed and that it should be done in order to push for a federal system.

Pere Navarro, First Secretary of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) – which is federated to the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), has finally decided to resign, after many people within the party had asked him for big changes since the last European elections. On the 25^th of May, the PSC passed from having 36% of Catalans' votes in the 2009 European elections to 14% of them, dropping  from first to third position as the most voted party. Back then, Navarro refused to resign, despite the Secretary General of the PSOE, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, announcing he was stepping down due to the Socialists' poor results throughout Spain. In parallel, the PSC members openly supporting self-determination – which is totally rejected by the PSOE – announced they were thinking of splitting and forming their own party, after being gradually side-lined by Navarro in the last 2 years. In the last few days, Navarro desperately tried to keep the party united but since he was not succeeding, he faced increasing pressure to step down.

Civil-society organisations from Catalonia have simultaneously built a traditional human tower, on Sunday 8 June at 12 o'clock (CET), in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, London, Lisbon, Paris, Rome and Barcelona, as well as in 41 additional Catalan towns, to claim for the right of self-determination. "Catalans want to vote. Human towers for democracy" is the banner shown at the action, which ended with a manifesto read by famous personalities such as Paul Preston, Jordi  Savall and Pep Guardiola. This large-scale action taking place in almost 50 different locations  throughout Catalonia and the rest of Europe has been organised by the civil-society association Òmnium Cultural and has been exclusively funded via private donations and membership fees. 71 'castellers' groups, who are those building the traditional human towers (called 'castells' in Catalan) have participated in the action, which represent 85% of the existing 'castellers' associations.

Catalan civil-society organisations have simultaneously built the traditional human towers in Brussels, Berlin, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Paris and Rome, as well as in Barcelona at 12 o'clock (European Continental Time), this Sunday to claim for Catalonia's right to self-determination and to be able to hold an independence vote, which is blocked by the Spanish Government. This awareness-raising action aims to send a message to the rest of Europe and the international community: Catalans want to vote. In fact, according to the polls published in the last 2 years, between 75% and 80% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination vote and between 50% and 55% of the citizens would vote for independence from Spain. A traditional Catalan human tower has been built at the same time in each of these cities, as well as in 41 towns throughout Catalonia, showing the banner “Catalans want to vote. Human towers for democracy”. Famous personalities have given their support to the action and have a read a manifesto: British historian Paul Preston in London, Catalan musician Jordi Savall in Paris, Catalan football coach Pep Guardiola in Berlin, Portuguese playwright Helder Costa in Lisbon, Catalan actor Sergi López in Brussels and Swiss actor Joan Mompart in Geneva.

The University of Geneva hosted on Friday a debate on the future of Catalonia and the question of self-determination, in the first activity of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) in Switzerland. The event, organised by the Global Studies Institute of the University of Geneva in collaboration with the Swiss daily newspaper 'Le Temps', was attended by more than 150 people, who actively participated in the debate. Guest speakers included Francesc Homs, Catalan Minister for the Presidency Office and Spokesperson for the Government of Catalonia, Mercè Barceló, Chair of Constitutional Law at the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB), and the Director of the Global Studies Institute, Nicolas Levrat.

On Sunday 8 June at 12.00 pm, traditional Catalan human towers will be built in iconic spots of Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Paris, Rome and Barcelona, to petition for Catalan citizens' right to hold a self-determination vote in order to decide on their own collective future as a nation. The performance aims to raise international awareness about the will of the majority of Catalan people to hold such a vote, which is being totally blocked by the Spanish Government. According to all polls, between 75% and 80% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination vote. The 8 demonstrations will take place at the exact same time across these 8 European cities and they will be simultaneously replicated in 41 towns throughout Catalonia with further towers, called 'castells'. This large-scale performance has been organised by the civil-society organisation Òmnium Cultural and it is exclusively funded with private money.

The Spokesperson for the Catalan Executive, Francesc Homs, today stated that the results of the European elections and the turnout increase in Catalonia make the ruling cabinet feel “stronger”. “It is clear that the political project managed [by the Catalan Government] has great support”, he said. The centre-right pro-Catalan state coalition Convergència i Unió (CiU), which runs the Executive, increased its support by 100,000 additional votes compared to the 2009 elections, although its percentage of the vote did drop slightly from 22.4% to 21.9% due to a higher turnout. Overall, parties supporting this November’s independence vote obtained more than 55% of the votes cast, while those totally opposed to self-determination lost out, receiving less than 16% of the votes. For this reason, Homs asked the Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, to start talking again about how to authorise a self-determination vote.

The President of the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) Oriol Junqueras has confirmed that his party will not sit in the Catalan Government “for the moment”, despite having been often offered the chance to do so by the governing Centre-Right pro-Catalan State Coalition (CiU), and winning Sunday’s European elections. It was the first time in the 37 years of democracy that the ERC won an election in Catalonia. Instead, Junqueras praised the leadership of the President of the Catalan Government and CiU head, Artur Mas, which he called “stronger than ever”. The CiU won some 100,000 additional votes on Sunday compared to 2009, although its percentage of the vote decreased slightly since turnout grew considerably. However, the People’s Party Secretary General, María Dolores de Cospedal, insisted that the elections were “a warning message to Mas”. Despite self-determination parties having clearly won the elections in Catalonia and the PP having its percentage of the vote halved, de Cospedal rejected the idea that support for independence is increasing.

The Spokesperson for the European Commission, Pia Ahrenkilde, was asked about Catalonia’s results from Sunday’s European Parliament elections. Ahrenkilde stated that “the EU is very much listening” to what is going on, but refused to make specific comments on “any individual national result”. She went on to say that, considering the results in the EU overall, “there is a lot of reflection to do by all European leaders and by all national leaders”. Turnout in Catalonia increased significantly, fuelled by the self-determination debate, going from 36.9% to 47.4%, whereas it dropped in most of Spain. Furthermore, self-determination parties won the elections in Catalonia, occupying 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th position and obtaining more than 60% of the vote. In addition, the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) won an election in Catalonia for the first time, obtaining 23.7% of the vote.