national

Irvine Welsh criticizes EU’s silence on the jailing of grassroots civil society leaders

The commemoration is just 20 days before the referendum on independence

Some 450,000 people and 1,800 coaches already enrolled in demonstration

Court claims evidence justifies continued detention of two arrested terror suspects, while no victim remains in critical condition, and Mossos union calls for end to ‘sterile’ warning debate

Judge provisionally releases one detainee and extends detention of another

They spent the night in solitary confinement in Madrid

This year’s mass protest for self-determination to feature giant yellow fluorescent plus sign in centre of Catalan capital two weeks before October 1 referendum

Francesc de Dalmases states Catalans will vote in October 1 independence referendum in meeting with think tanks, States representatives and foreign journalists

The PNR is to become a “forum for debate” since it represents the broad spectrum of pro-referendum supporters

It includes political parties and organizations that share a commitment to a self-determination vote 

The National Pact for a Referendum (PNR) has gathered 500,000 signatures from institutions, organizations, elected representatives, and private individuals, both within and outside of the country, in coming to agreement with the Spanish Government over holding a referendum on Catalonia’s independence. The PNR spokesman, Joan Ignasi Elena, described this “substantial” support as a “democratic revolution” which proves that also “those who want to vote ‘no’ to Catalonia’s independence” are urging the Spanish executive to negotiate and hold the vote. In this vein, he called for the Spanish government “to open a dialogue” because “being in denial doesn’t change the reality”; on the contrary, it puts them in a “ridiculous” position.

FC Barcelona supports holding a vote on Catalan independence by joining the National Pact for the Referendum (PNR). The club announced their decision through a press release before their game in La Liga on Saturday. One of the first people to congratulate this decision was Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, who wrote the following in a tweet: “democracy joins forces”. The National Pact for the Referendum is a campaign to collect signatures from institutions, organizations, elected representatives, and private individuals, both within and outside of the country in support of holding a referendum on the political future of Catalonia. The group is comprised of the Catalan government, political parties, and organizations.

The President of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, has announced that in the coming weeks the Spanish government will receive a proposal for dialogue and negotiation over the referendum from the Catalan government. The president said this during his closing speech at the Catalan National Assembly’s annual meeting on Saturday in Granollers. In comments to the CNA, government sources confirmed this will be the last proposal from the Catalans to Spain. In his speech the Catalan president urged the Spanish government to set aside their prejudices and to assume part of the responsibility, which is necessary to solve the problem. “We assume our part and to whatever extent necessary,” he added.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, called all members of the National Alliance for the Right to Self-Determination to a summit this Friday in order to find political and social consensus around the organisation of the referendum on independence to be held next September 2017. To achieve this, the National Alliance for the Referendum has been created, presided over by former Catalan Socialist, Joan Ignasi Lena. Representatives from all those political parties which support Catalonia’s right to decide, together with more than 3,000 civil society, business, cultural, sports and political organisations committed to launch a campaign to promote an agreed referendum with the Spanish State, specially oriented toward the international audience. Puigdemont called the meeting after finding that the Spanish Government’s repeated calls for dialogue have not resulted in any material actions. On the contrary, all the steps towards launching the pro-independence roadmap have been suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The Spanish Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Montserrat, proposed this Tuesday during her appearance before the Commission of Health of the Spanish Parliament the creation of “Erasmus scholarships at a national level”. The programme will be named Cervantes, in commemoration of the fourth centenary of the death of the writer, and seeks to “promote territorial cohesion in addition to favouring the mobility of students”, Montserrat explained. It is a mobility project for students between 14 and 18 years old so that they can study the last two years of high school and the two pre-university years “in another Spanish city different from their own”. To be launched together with the Ministry for Education, the project “aims to promote knowledge of our cultural diversity, our traditions and languages”, said the Ministry in a statement.