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The Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) stated it cancelled a debate on the EU Membership of an independent Catalonia because they could not find a speaker arguing that Catalonia would be excluded from the EU. However, the Catalan Government and the Catalan Public Diplomacy Council (Diplocat) suspect the Spanish Government pressured the CEPS to cancel the debate, as it already tried to do with previous events. The Spanish Executive denied the accusations, which are also rejected by the CEPS. The event was organised weeks ago and was supposed to take place on Tuesday at 9.30am at the CEPS facilities, which is the most prestigious think tank in EU Affairs. It was "postponed" on Monday evening, just a few hours before it was due to start. A prestigious Constitutional expert, who advises the Catalan Government, Carles Viver i Pi-Sunyer, was supposed to present a report arguing that Catalonia would remain within the EU.

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.

King Juan Carlos' succession process is not explicitly backed by the Centre-Right pro-Catalan State Coalition Convergència i Unió (CiU), which played a crucial role in Spain's Transition from dictatorship to democracy and guaranteed on many occasions Spain's stability. However, this time, the CiU has decided to abstain in the vote on the Law on Juan Carlos' abdication, as it was announced last week. The CiU accused Spain's two largest parties – the governing People's Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) – of having excluded them from this and previous processes. The bill was approved on Wednesday by 85% of the Spanish Parliament, but only with the votes from the PP, the PSOE and the Spanish nationalist and populist UPyD. The Catalan and Basque conservative nationalists have abstained, while the left-wing Catalan parties have voted against it. The CiU was an essential part of the consensus of the 1978 Constitution, which once again proves to be broken.

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 parties should discuss how independence can be best achieved," if the majority of Catalans choose this option in a self-determination referendum, stated the South African Archbishop and anti-Apartheid activist, Desmond Tutu. When he was receiving the 2014 Premi Internacional Catalunya – Catalonia's most prestigious award given to people who have significantly contributed to Humankind throughout the world, Tutu directly appealed to the Spanish authorities "to listen" to the majority of Catalans, since "it's common sense." The Nobel Peace Laureate urged Spain to allow Catalans to freely and democratically hold a self-determination referendum. He also said that consensus is better than unilateral decision, which is "the second best." The Archbishop dedicated the award to all the people fighting against a series of causes, such as AIDS in South Africa, war in Syria, torture in Guantanamo, homophobia in Uganda, pollution in Northern Canada or not being allowed self-determination in Catalonia. "They do the work and I get the credit," he said ironically.

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.

Parties supporting self-determination have won the European Parliament elections in Catalonia by a clear margin; elections which have seen turnout increase from 36.9% in 2009 to 47.4% this time around, spurred by the independence debate. The Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) obtained 23.7% of the votes, whereas in 2009 it secured only 9.2%. The Centre-Right pro-Catalan State Coalition (CiU), which has been in government in Catalonia since 2010, has more or less kept the same percentage of the vote, going from 22.4% to 21.9%, despite austerity measures adopted in the past few years. Support for Spain's two main parties, the People's Party (PP) – currently in government – and the Socialists (PSOE), has plummeted in Catalonia.  The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), part of the PSOE, retained only a third of its 2009 share of the vote, going from 36% to 14.3%. The PP now becomes the 5^th most popular party, decreasing from 18% of the vote to 9.8%. Meanwhile, the Catalan Green Socialist and post-Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA), which also supports self-determination, increased its percentage of the vote from 6% to 10.3%. The anti-Catalan nationalism and populist party Ciutadans (C's) also polled well, increasing its share of the vote from 0.3% to 6.3%.

In Spain as a whole, turnout for the European parliamentary elections increased slightly, while it increased considerably in a Catalonia in the midst of the independence debate. In 2009 only 36.94% of those Catalans on the voting register voted in the European elections, the lowest turnout ever recorded in any election during the 37 years of democracy. Now, some 47.4% of Catalans have cast their vote, an increase of more than 10 percentage points. In the whole of Spain, turnout increased by only one percentage point when compared to the 44.5% turnout from 2009, reaching 45.6%, sustained by the high increase in Catalonia. In fact, in the rest of Spain, turnout decreased in almost all regions, with only a few exceptions. Turnout also stagnated at EU level, going from 43% in 2009 to 43.1% in the newest elections. Parties and civil society organisations supporting self-determination asked Catalan citizens to vote in these elections in order to send a message to the world: Catalans want to hold an independence vote and to remain within the EU.

The 2014 European parliamentary elections are likely to become a milestone for Catalan people for three main reasons, which taken together send a strong message to the international community, the EU institutions and Member State governments, including that of Spain. Firstly, political parties and civil society organisations supporting self-determination have called citizens to vote in these elections as a way to push for a referendum on independence to take place on the 9^th of November of this year. This may significantly increase turnout from the low 36.94% registered in 2009. Secondly, the two main self-determination parties are likely to be the most voted parties in Catalonia. In addition, the Left-Wing Independence Party (ERC) may go from 4^th place in the 2009 poll to 1^st place this time around. Thirdly, support for the two main parties behind the EU austerity measures that turned into drastic budget cuts in southern Europe – the People’s Party and the Socialist Party – is likely to plummet in Catalonia.