institutional

All the parties in the Catalan chamber except from governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ urged former Catalan President, Artur Mas, to appear before the Parliament over CDC irregular funding. He will have to do so after the main figures accused in the ‘Palau Case’ assured that former CDC, now renamed as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), received commissions from Ferrovial construction company in exchange for public contracts and with the intermediation of ‘Palau de la Música’. Indeed, Mas was head of CDC at the time when the alleged corruption took place. Pro-independence radical left CUP consider it “a fiction” to separate CDC from PDeCat and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) have called for Mas to quit his political career if the accusations over CDC irregular funding prove to be true.

The Catalan Government and the Catalan Parliament gathered this Saturday evening in an institutional ceremony to celebrate Catalonia’s National Day. This year, the commemoration paid tribute to major migrations and claimed Catalonia as a welcoming land throughout history. The ceremony took place for the first time at the Born Cultural Centre and not on ‘Plaça Sant Jaume’, the square where Barcelona’s Town Hall and Palau de la Generalitat, the Catalan Government headquarters, are located. Some former presidents of Catalonia, such as Artur Mas and José Montilla, also took part in the event, as did most of the political parties in the Catalan Chamber. The Conservative People’s Party (PP) andSpanish Unionist Ciutadans refused to attend.

Carles Puigdemont took office this Tuesday and became Catalan President number 130. “We will respond to the people’s hopes” stated Puigdemont during his speech and added that it is “not possible to guarantee” a better life for all citizens “with the skills we currently have, with the skills we have been left”. The Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, representatives from all the groups in the Catalan chamber and personalities from civil society attended the ceremony. Current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and the Spanish Government’s Delegate in Catalonia, María de los Llanos de Luna, were the only representatives from the Spanish government to attend the event.  

Current Catalan President, Artur Mas, appeared this Tuesday before the media to comment on the recent control measures that Spain's executive have set in place to control Catalonia's finances. "We are facing an institutional attack" stated Mas "Spain's executive is punishing Catalonia for defending political ideas which are pacific, democratic and respectful of human rights". "This is really grave" he commented and added that "the EU should be worried" about the fact that "democratically elected parliaments and pacific social movements are being attacked". Mas considers the specific measures that Spain's government announced on Friday to control Catalonia's administration of their share of Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) funds is a way of "taking over" Catalonia's autonomy and self-government "after years of cutting them back".

At 9 o’clock this morning, all the political parties represented in the Catalan Parliament and in Barcelona’s City Hall, with the exception of the conservative People’s Party (PP), anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (C’s) and alternative left and radical independence party CUP, paid the traditional homage to the statue of Rafael Casanova, Barcelona’s Chief Councillor when the city was defeated on the 11th of September 1714. The first to arrive were Catalan President Artur Mas and Catalan Parliament spokeswoman Núria de Gispert. Civil society organisations such as FC Barcelona, RCD Espanyol, and Òmnium Cultural (the main organisation promoting Catalan culture and language) also participated in the event. The flower offering was the first of many events being held to commemorate Catalonia’s National Day, the 11th of September. The date not only commemorates Catalonia’s defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession, but it also recalls its consequent loss of sovereignty, self-government institutions and Constitution. 

Catalonia’s National Day, on the 11th of September, commemorates the day on which Catalonia was finally defeated and lost its sovereignty to the absolute king Felip V, more than 300 years ago. This year the institutional ceremony focused on two pillars: the 100^th anniversary of the Catalonia’s Library Network and the 750^th birthday of Ramon Muntaner, one of the first and most iconic chroniclers in Catalonia’s history. The institutional events are normally held on the night before the 11th of September but this year the celebration was brought forward to avoid its coincidence with the electoral campaign, which kicks off on the 10th of September at midnight. The Catalan Parliament’s President, Núria de Gispert, stated that lately Catalonia’s National Day commemorations haven’t a “feeling of defeat but one of hope for the future”. 

Ortega will be in charge of public administration staff and structures, as well as the relations between the Catalan Government and the Spanish State’s powers. She will be the first woman to hold the office of Vice President. She defends traditional family values and promotes women’s talent.