referendum

An ‘Early Day Motion’ on Catalonia’s right to hold a referendum has been presented this Thursday to the House of Commons. Titled ‘Democracy in Catalonia’ the petition calls on the British Government “to declare its adherence” to the right of “democratically elected parliamentarians to hold a referendum” in accordance with “the needs and wishes of their people”. Moreover, the petition reports that former Catalan President, Artur Mas, former Vice President, Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister for Education, Irene Rigau have been “levied heavy fines” and banned from public office for allowing the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014.  The signers, SNP MP George Kerevan, Northern Ireland SNDP MP Mark Durkan, and Plaid Cymru’s Hwyel Williams also note that 85% of Catalans, and 83 of the 135 Members of the Parliament of Catalonia support the option to vote democratically on Catalonia's constitutional future”.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, commented on the Council of Statutory Guarantees’ resolution which approved the allocation to call a referendum this September but denied the Government’s competence on this matter. “The allocation has been absolutely backed and the referendum will be carried out”, he said and guaranteed that city halls throughout Catalonia “are ready”. However, he refused to comment on the 31^st additional provision of the budget, which establishes that the Government is responsible for guaranteeing this allocation and therefore calling the referendum. Indeed, this section has been considered unconstitutional by the Council. According to the body, calling a referendum is not an attributed competence of the Government and therefore this authorisation can’t be foreseen in the budget.

The Council for Statutory Guarantees, the body responsible for checking whether the Catalan Government’s regulations comply with the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution, approved the additional allocation included in the budget for 2017 in order to call a referendum on independence in September. In particular, the bill establishes €5 million for electoral processes and €0.8 million for participation. However, it has found unconstitutional the 31^st additional provision of the draft, which establishes that the Government has to allocate the spending to carry out the vote. Despite being unanimous, the resolution of the Council for Statutory Guarantees is not binding, since it is an advisory body. However it has already postponed the passing of the bill, which was due to be put to vote last February.

‘En Comú Podem’, the alternative left coalition which won the last Spanish Elections in Catalonia, obtaining 12 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament, bid for “finding alliances” and “fighting for the recognition of Catalonia’s right to decide” before setting out other scenarios “which are not real yet”. These are some of the key points which ‘En Comú Podem’ leader, Xavier Domènech, presented this Tuesday at a press conference in the European Parliament. According to Domènech, achieving European support to hold a referendum in Catalonia is a task which should be pursued “through persistence rather than urgency”. In this vein, he admitted that “the Spanish State’s pressure” to diminish international support for the referendum “are public and obvious”. Domènech insisted on his party’s bid for holding “a referendum with all the guarantees” in Catalonia rather than “a 9-N plus”, that is to say, a repetition of the symbolic vote on independence which took place in 2014

Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor presented this Thursday a new lawsuit against Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and the three members of the Parliament’s Bureau which belong to governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, that is to say Anna Simó, Lluis Corominas and Ramona Barrufet. They are accused of disobedience and perversion of justice for allowing the Chamber to vote on the proposal for a referendum. However, the Public Prosecutor didn’t bring any action against Joan Josep Nuet, also a member of the Parliament’s Bureau, after considering that he didn’t aim to launch any “political project which disrespects the Constitution of 1978”. This is the second lawsuit against Forcadell presented by the Public Prosecutor and is expected to be added to her prosecution for having allowed a democratic debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27th of July.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and the Catalan Ministers received this Tuesday the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC)’s notice informing them that the proposal to hold a referendum on independence in 2017 passed by the Catalan Parliament has ultimately been suspended. The document, which washand delivered by two judicial secretaries from Catalonia’s Supreme Court, warns the Government of the consequences they may incur if they disobey the resolution. The proposal, presented and approved by governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and pro-independence radical left CUP reaffirmed “Catalonia’s imprescriptible and inalienable right to self-determination” and called the Government “to hold a binding referendum on Catalonia’s independence” which would have to take place “in September 2017 at the latest and have a clear and binary question”.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has definitely suspended the governing party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left pro-independence CUP joint proposal to call a referendum in 2017. A decision which, according to Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté “was not surprising” not even at “this extraordinary speed” and culminating “a tense week” during which the 9-N trial over symbolic vote on independence took place at Barcelona’s High Court. However, she assured that the ruling “won’t change the Government’s determination to call a referendum this year”. Munté emphasised that the joint resolution “was discussed and voted on by the Catalan MPs in accordance to the freedom of speech” and that these MPs were “democratically elected”. In a similar sense, CUP MP Benet Salellas warned that his group “will guarantee that the referendum takes place, regardless of the TC’s wishes”.

The commitment taken by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to call a referendum in autumn 2017, regardless of the Spanish Government’s position, has been definitely suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). Although the body had already ordered a cautionary suspension of the governing party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left pro-independence CUP joint proposal on this matter, this Tuesday the resolution became definite. “No court decision will change our unequivocal determination to call a referendum this year”, stated Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté. She also emphasised that the joint resolution emerged from the democratic mandate of the 27-S Catalan elections. The magistrates also left in the Public Prosecutor’s hands whether to take further legal action against Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, who already testified before Barcelona’s High Court in December for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote amongst the Catalan MPs.

The trial over the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014, which took before Barcelona’s High Court former Catalan President Artur Mas amongst other members of the Government has provoked reactions within and outside of Catalonia. MEPs from all parties have told the CNA that Catalonia and Spain should look for “a political” solution to their differences rather than resorting to the court. “Politicising the judiciary is always a wrong way”, stated ECR MEP Mark Demesmaeker, and lamented “the EU institutions’ silence” on this matter. “Europe can give good solutions”, EPP MEP Csaba Sógor pointed out and called for the 27 Member States to “be on the side of peace, dialogue and negotiation”. According to Ana Gomes, from the Socialists and Democrats, Spain’s response to Catalonia’s political aspirations “doesn't dissuade pro-independence supporters, it does rather the contrary”.

Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) will take the budget bill for 2017, which was due to be put to vote this February, to the Council for Statutory Guarantees. The function of the body is to check whether the regulations of the Catalan Government comply with the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution. The spokesperson of ‘Ciutadans’ and PSC in the Parliament considers the items allocated for calling “a new 9-N” to be against both the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution. Moreover, they noted that other budget lines are “unclear” and may be “hidden” in order to ultimately hold the referendum in September 2017, as the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has repeatedly announced. 

Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, testified before the court this Monday for alleged disobedience and breach of trust for allowing the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014. During his testimony, Mas insisted that the non-binding referendum “was not a personal whim or a last-minute idea” but “the consequence of wide parliamentary agreements and explicit and reiterated mandates of the Chamber”. Moreover, he emphasised that the 9-N "was unstoppable" since it was in the hands of volunteers rather than under the Government's control. Mas insisted that the 9-N took place “after democratic elections which nobody refuted nor questioned”. Mas refused to answer the Public Prosecutor’s questions after his testimony. Former Catalan vice-president, Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister for Education, Irene Rigau have also declared before the judge.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, officially announced the referendum to the consuls in Barcelona. Before 60 international representatives based in the Catalan capital, Puigdemont emphasised this Wednesday the Government’s “determination” to hold the referendum and assured that “the threats” of the Spanish State won’t change its will. According to Puigdemont, the referendum will take place “in September at the latest” and it will have all the “democratic and legal guarantees”. Joined by the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, and the chairwoman of the consular corps in Barcelona, Peru’s consul Franca Lorella, Puigdemont insisted that the Government “will always bid for reaching an agreement with the Spanish State” to hold the referendum and emphasised its will for “permanent dialogue”. 

The Catalan Government does not exclude the possibility of organising an independence referendum before September 2017, the date initially signalled by President Carles Puigdemont, if “circumstances” make this option the most “convenient”. That is according to the Presidency Minister and Spokeswoman of the Government, Neus Munté, who nonetheless stressed that the date of the vote should allow enough time to organise it properly. Munté did not specify, however, under which circumstances the Catalan Government would try to move forward the referendum. The Spanish Vice President, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said that the date of the vote does not matter as a referendum will “always be against the Constitution”.

The Spanish People’s Party (PP) attacked on Monday the talk to be given by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, in the European Parliament, saying it is going to be unsuccessful. The leader of the PP group in Brussels, Esteban González Pons, who has written to all his party colleagues asking them to avoid the event, said that the talk is only being held in a room inside the EP because three MEPs have “rented” it. “They have rented a room in the European Parliament, as they could have done with a bar or a cafeteria”, he said a day before the address. González Pons admitted that the room, the biggest in the building, may well be full of people on Tuesday evening, but only “Green MEPs, extreme-left MEPs” or even “extreme-right MEPs” will attend, he said. In fact, the conservative politician added that the Catalan referendum, which has the support of 80% of people in Catalonia, is seen in Brussels as a “Spanish Brexit”. In a letter sent to all deputies, Swedish Green MEP Bodil Valero regretted the Spanish government efforts to boycott the event. The talk is organised by Catalan MEPs Ramon Tremosa (ALDE), Jordi Solé (Greens/EFA) and Josep-Maria Terricabras (Greens/EFA). Other Catalan MEPs such as Francesc Gambús (EPP) and Ernest Urtasun (Greens) will also attend.

Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Meritxell Borràs, assured that Catalans abroad will be able to vote electronically in the independence referendum, to take place next September. “If it is referred to in the referendum’s convening decree, the instrument will have to be there”, she said, in response to a parliamentarian question made by pro-independence radical left CUP MP, Benet Salellas. He urged the Government to make a “vehement” statement on the matter, since it has been a growing constant demand for those living abroad. During the 27-S Catalan elections in 2015, 21,771 Catalans abroad requested to vote, but only 14,781 ballots could finally be counted. Borràs considered it a “shame” and confirmed that the Government presented a bill to introduce electronic voting for Catalans abroad.