miquel roca

40 years after it was passed, most Catalans would vote against the text

One of the six ‘fathers’ of the Spanish Constitution, Miquel Roca, who currently leads one of the largest law firms in Spain, stated that the Constitution does not ban a referendum on Catalonia’s self-determination. “It is a matter of political will”, since Catalonia is recognised “as a nationality” by Spain’s main law, stated the respected lawyer, who also used to be a leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU). In front of a committee of the Catalan Parliament, Roca remarked that it would be “absurd” to call for a referendum at Spanish level, as it would only be binding in Catalonia. In the rest of Spain it would not be binding, emphasised Roca, as “it is said in Article 92”. This article reads that non-binding referendums can be called regarding issues of extreme importance.

The new President of the Spanish Constitutional Court, Francisco Pérez de los Cobos, has turned out to be a member of the People’s Party (PP), which runs the Spanish Government. In addition, the expert in labour law had drafted several reports for the PP on several issues. On top of this, Pérez de los Cobos wrote a book with many sentences against Catalonia and Catalan citizens, amongst other controversial stances. According to the Catalan Government, this person cannot chair an institution that has to act as a referee between the different levels of government in Spain and that has to interpret the Constitution regarding very sensitive issues, such as Catalonia’s self-determination. For this reason, the Catalan Government demanded that Pérez de los Cobos be excluded from all the cases that involve the Catalan Executive.

Catalonia gives away between 8% and 9% of its GDP every year. The main actors in Catalan civil society got together to formally push for a new fiscal agreement with Spain, through which Catalonia would continue transferring money to poorer Spanish regions, but not at current levels. The meeting brought together the leaders of the main business-owners association and the two main trade unions, as well as intellectuals from Barcelona’s Athenaeum, business people, and politicians from every political party except those classed as Spanish nationalists. The meeting was similar to the one held 113 years ago.

MNAC’s new Director and its new President presented their plan to foster the identity and singularity of a museum known for hosting, among others, the most important collections of Romanesque art in the world. More space, more contemporary artwork and more visitors are the three keywords that will guide the museum’s new stage. Furthermore, the MNAC wants to vindicate its position as Catalonia’s top museum and within the museum’s first division at international level.

In addition, he warned about an ongoing re-centralisation process, going against the consensus of 1978, and whose next step “will be the electoral reform”, which “will sentence us [Catalan nationalists] as galley slaves”. The day that King Juan Carlos was ratifying with his signature the amendment to the Spanish Constitution, one of the main law’s six founding fathers criticised the reform. Miquel Roca, who represented the views of the Catalan nationalists in 1978 criticised a reform approved only with the support of the two main parties in Spain, both defending centralist stances.