referèndum

The Catalan Parliament called for the Government to “launch the necessary actions to obtain the advice, recognition, and endorsement of the Venice Commission with respect to the conditions that the referendum should fulfill in order to meet the requirements established by this body”. The Catalan Chamber also agreed to ask the Catalan executive to inform the Commission of the Catalan people’s desire to call “a referendum in agreement with the State”. This point was approved thanks to the votes of governing coalition Junts Pel Sí and the alternative left coalition Catalunya Sí que es Pot. However, the members of the other pro-independence party in the chamber, the radical left CUP, abstained from voting, since they believe that the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Spanish State regarding the referendum is not realistic.

Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor has presented a lawsuit against Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Meritxell Borràs, for initiating the process of buying ballot boxes for the referendum. The complaint, ordered by Spanish Public Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, has been presented before the High Court and also includes the department for Public Administration’s General Secretary, Francesc Esteve, and all those “whom could be found responsible during the investigation”. The Prosecutor considers that simply beginning the purchase of the ballot boxes is against the Spanish Constitutional Court’s (TC) rulings and thus accuses Borràs and Esteve of perversion of justice, disobedience, and embezzlement.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has invited his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, and his whole team to attend the conference he will give in Madrid on May 22nd. The talk  ‘A referendum for Catalonia: Invitation to a democratic agreement’ has been presented by the Catalan executive as the last chance to negotiate an agreed-upon referendum with the Spanish Government. At the same time, Catalan Government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, dismissed the reports by some media outlets that said Puigdemont will announce the date of the referendum at the conference. “We won’t announce any date or any question until we have a response from the Spanish State,” emphasized Munté. Both the Catalan VP and Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs will join Puigdemont at his talk, which is the same one given by the three Catalan leaders in Brussels in front of some 500 people.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, together with Catalan VP and Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, will travel to Madrid on May 22nd to give the conference ‘A referendum for Catalonia. Invitation to a democratic agreement’. The conference is the same one that the three Catalan leaders gave in Brussels last January for nearly 500 people. Although the Catalan Government initially asked to hold the event in the Spanish Senate, that request was dismissed by the Spanish Government. So instead, the event will be held in the Caja de la Música auditorium, which has a capacity of about 250 people. The conference will be the Catalan Government’s last attempt to negotiate an agreed-upon referendum with the Spanish Government.

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, accompanied by the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, met the co-president of the Greens-European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA), Ska Keller, and other MEPs from this party on Friday to discuss the political situation in Catalonia. The meeting, which took place at the seat of the Government of Catalonia and the Presidency of the Generalitat, also included the presence of the co-president and the Secretary General of the European Green Party, Monica Frassoni and Mar García; and the MEPs Ernest Urtasun, Bodil Valero, and Josep Maria Terricabras. During the meeting, President Puigdemont and the Minister Romeva met with the MEPs and analyzed the current political situation in Catalonia and the cornerstones of European politics.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, said that the Government will ask for the international community’s support in order to implement the referendum result if the people vote ‘yes’ to Catalonia’s independence. In particular, he emphasized the need to get the EU’s attention and pointed out that if Catalonia’s moves towards independence, Europe will stop being Spain’s “errand boy”. Puigdemont admitted that no international recognition has been requested so far. Instead, the Government has just organized a campaign to explain the Catalans’ demands to the world. The Catalan President insisted that the ballot boxes will be put out in September and added that the only way for the Spanish Government to prevent the referendum from happening is “by opening a dialogue and agreeing on an alternative date”. 

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has unanimously suspended a substantial part of the Catalan law for popular non-binding referenda, approved seven years ago in 2010. In particular, the magistrates have annulled the section which refers to calling a referendum at an autonomic level. They believe that this kind of referendum “is not foreseen in the Spanish Constitution nor in the State’s legislation”. Moreover, the TC has also decided to suspend the creation of the National Transition Advisory Council, a body created through a Catalan Government decree and aimed at beginning the necessary measures for completing Catalonia’s pro-independence process. In this fashion, the TC accepted the appeal presented by the Spanish Government, which claimed that the Catalan law for non-binding referenda was unconstitutional. 

Former Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Garcia Margallo, wanted to stop the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014 by force, he said Wednesday during a conference with former Catalan VP, Joana Ortega. Ortega was recently banned from public office by the Spanish Constitutional Court precisely for allowing the non-official referendum. According to Margallo’s version, he suggested the Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy and the Spanish Minister for Home Affairs at the time, Jorge Fernández Díaz, suspend the consultation by taking over the Catalan Police and destroying the ballot boxes. He added that not following his advice “was a mistake” and recommended a similar action to stop the referendum scheduled for September 2017. A vote which Rajoy rejected again this Wednesday in the Spanish Parliament.

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 Catalan Government published an announcement on Tuesday in its Official Journal inviting companies to bid to supply ballot boxes for the independence referendum. The executive needs up to 8,000 ballot boxes and is offering to pay up to €184,000. Companies will have 15 days to show their interest in providing them, and the Government will choose the best offer. In the same public call for tenders the Generalitat is also offering €16,000 for cardboard ballot boxes. The announcement is the first step towards the celebration of the independence referendum. The Catalan Government is expected to announce a date for the vote before summer. Catalans were promised an independence referendum by autumn 2017.

Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, encouraged the business sector on Wednesday to break “the status quo” in Spain in order to “survive”. In a speech in a business forum in Girona, he argued that the only alternative to independence “is decay”. Puigdemont stressed that when the Spanish government boycotts Catalan business missions abroad or does not invest in infrastructures such as the Mediterranean corridor “it is setting traps for itself and not for the independence process”, because it also “abandons the companies that are not in favor of independence”. Therefore, the Catalan president urged the economic sector to turn towards Europe and to have confidence in its “pragmatism”, suggesting the EU would welcome an independent Catalonia as a member. Carles Puigdemont closed the event titled "Entrepreneurs want to know”, organized by the business group "We believe in Catalonia". During his speech, Catalonia’s president presented numbers to back up the claims of the economic boost that an independent Catalonia would enjoy and he insisted that the country is attracting foreign investments.

The Catalan Government is taking the first steps to buying the ballot boxes for the independence referendum, CNA has learned. The executive is about to publish an announcement in the Catalan Government Official Journal that invites companies to bid to supply the ballot boxes. Catalonia is expected to need 8,000 ballot boxes for its independence referendum, which the government wants to celebrate in the autumn with or without permission from the Spanish State. Companies will have 15 days to show their interest in providing the ballot boxes once the offer is officially published, something that is expected to happen in the next few days. According to the Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, buying the ballot boxes shows the government's “commitment” to the referendum.

Around 600 jurists signed a manifesto in favor of holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia in accordance with the Spanish government. The signers of the text, which was presented on Wednesday at the Bar Association, gave “full support” to the celebration of such a vote. Furthermore, they stated that the referendum is “legitimate and legal” and that “it fits” within the Spanish Constitution. They also warned that “continuous opposition” from Madrid to coming to an agreement about the referendum justifies “other options” for Catalonia’s citizens to be able to express themselves on how they want to decide their future. Catalonia's Minister of Justice, Carles Mundó, was also present at the signing of the manifesto.

The United Nations should ask Spain to respect the wish of the Catalan people to hold an independence referendum. This is the message that a group of Catalan civil society organizations sent to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in a letter published on Wednesday. “We want the UN to take a position,” said Beni Saball, lawyer and secretary of the Sobirania i Justícia organization. Pau Miserach, president of another of the signing entities, the Grup d’Estudis Polítics, added that the “supranational law” set by the UN “obliges” the Spanish government to “study, analyze, understand, and accept the Catalan reality”. According to him, “secession is not forbidden as such” by any international treaty and the Vienna Convention of 1969, ratified by Spain in 1980, recognizes the right to independence.

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.