referendum

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, is rejecting the offer sent by the President of Catalonia, Artur Mas, to meet in Barcelona to coincide with the former’s trip to the Catalan capital on November 29. According to Alícia Sánchez-Camacho, the leader of Rajoy’s party in Catalonia, “it is not the time” for such a meeting. In addition, she also said that making the offer in a press conference through the Catalan Government’s Spokesperson “is not the way” of doing things. The Catalan leader of the People’s Party (PP) also pointed out that Rajoy is travelling to Barcelona “to attend a party rally”. During the weekend, the Spanish PM had announced his trip to Catalonia in order “to better explain himself” and talk to Catalans after November 9’s symbolic vote on independence. The Catalan Government invited Rajoy to hold a meeting with Mas as well in order to set institutional dialogue once again. Rajoy is refusing to discuss self-determination and according to Sánchez-Camacho he should only talk with Catalan representatives about the same things he would talk about in the other Autonomous Communities.

Furthermore, the Catalan Executive regrets that the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has not made any political proposal in his answer to the letter sent by the Catalan President, Artur Mas, after November 9’s symbolic vote on independence. Rajoy answered Mas’ letter and highlighted that Spain’s “sovereignty” cannot be negotiated, therefore rejecting the possibility of any discussion about a mutually-agreed referendum on Catalonia’s independence. Coinciding with the Spanish PM’s trip to Barcelona on November 29, the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, stated that Mas “would be delighted to welcome Rajoy at the Generalitat Palace”. He “has the doors open” to talk with Mas about the demands of Catalonia’s society. However, Homs also warned the Spanish PM that such dialogue should not become “a monologue”.

The public prosecutors based in Catalonia refused to back their Madrid-based boss regarding the complaint against the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and other members of his cabinet for authorising November 9’s symbolic vote on independence. According to them, there are not enough legal reasons for filing such a complaint, despite the pressures from Spanish nationalists to do so. The Director of Spain’s Public Prosecution Office, Eduardo Torres-Dulce – who is directly appointed by the Spanish Government – had unsuccessfully been trying to obtain the explicit support from his Catalan team. However, Torres-Dulce is likely to follow through with it anyway, after several members of the Spanish Government, the People’s Party (PP) and other Spanish nationalist parties urged him to do so. In any case, the Catalan prosecutors’ rebellion will not provoke a schism in this hierarchical institution, since on Tuesday afternoon they confirmed they will obey Torres-Dulce if he insists. The Catalan Government and political parties based in Barcelona warned that Madrid’s pressures seriously damage the separation of powers. Meanwhile, the PP accused Catalan prosecutors of being “contaminated by the atmosphere” of “radical secessionism”.

After days of controversy, the Director of Spain's Public Prosecution Office, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, suggested that a judicial complaint against the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, might not be filed because the case "is already at court". The People's Party (PP), which runs the Spanish Government, had announced that the Public Prosecution Office would file a complaint against Mas and some Catalan Ministers for having authorised November 9's symbolic vote on independence. Such an announcement seriously questions the separation of powers in Spain. On top of this, several Catalonia-based prosecutors protested over the Spanish Government's pressures. Torres-Dulce, who is appointed by the Spanish Government, decided to wait and meet on Wednesday with his delegate in Catalonia. They agreed to further analyse the case and make the decision in Catalonia. Such a legal step against Mas could provoke a boomerang effect against Madrid, mobilising a wide part of Catalonia's society.

As he announced on Tuesday, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, has begun a round of talks with the leaders of the parties that ran in the last Catalan elections supporting the right to self-determination. Mas aims to gather views and proposals about future scenarios and early elections. This includes the parties that backed the current self-determination process and the organisation of a consultation vote on November 9, by reaching an agreement in December 2013. But it also includes the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), which ran in November 2012 backing a legal self-determination vote but whose previous and current leaderships do not back the current process. After the talks, Mas will take a few days to think, and very likely to talk again with some parties, and on November 24 he will announce his own road map for the next few months.

The left-wing Catalan independence party ERC, which has shared a parliamentary stability agreement with the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU for the last 2 years, is pushing to begin a new political period. The ERC’s leader, Oriol Junqueras, met on Thursday with the President of the Catalan Government and CiU’s leader, Artur Mas, and confirmed to him that they will not back the new budget for 2015. The evening before, Junqueras had presented his road map for the next few months. The ERC wants early elections now, which would become “constituent elections” if a majority of pro-independence parties were to win. Furthermore, the ERC prefers to run alone, not in a shared electoral list. If Catalans voted for a majority of pro-independence parties, the new Parliament would start building the new state’s basic structures and drafting a Constitution, which would have to be later ratified through a binding referendum.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, downplayed November 9's participatory process and he totally rejected the opportunity to negotiate the organisation of a mutually-agreed self-determination referendum for Catalonia. After 2.3 million citizens gave their opinion on independence on Sunday, on Wednesday Rajoy spoke in public for the first time and said he considered November 9's non-binding vote to be "a deep failure of the pro-independence project", as "2 out of every 3 Catalans did not bother to participate in it", dishonestly ignoring the Spanish Government's threats and obstacles and mixing up figures. Furthermore, he rejected the offer to negotiate sent by the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas. Rajoy strongly criticised Mas for pretending to "impose" dialogue about "an illegal defiance". In addition, the Spanish PM did not offer any political solution for Catalonia's situation, except for totally blocking any Constitutional Reform. All parties in Catalonia were extremely disappointed by Rajoy's words, except of course the PP's Catalan branch.

After the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, urged the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, "to sit and talk" about taking the necessary steps to allow Catalans to hold a legal independence referendum, the Spanish Government totally rejected the idea on the same day. On top of this, Spain's Public Prosecutor's Office – whose boss is appointed by the Spanish Justice Minister and directly reports to him – is about to file a judicial complaint against Mas, the Catalan Vice President and, probably, the Catalan Education Minister for November 9's citizen participation process, in which 2.3 million Catalans gave their opinion on independence through ballot boxes located in public high-schools. However, Mas pointed out that Rajoy had stated on Saturday that Catalonia's participation process "was not a referendum, nor a consultation, nor anything similar".

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, assessed November 9's participatory process, when 81% of the 2.3 million participants voted for independence, despite the Spanish Government's obstacles and threats. On Tuesday, Mas asked the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to stop ignoring reality and start negotiating a mutually-agreed referendum on independence, like that in Scotland and Quebec. Taking into account Rajoy's attitude for the last 2 years, Mas was said to be "quite sceptical" but highlighted that Catalan representatives have always wanted a mutually-agreed vote, which is "the best" option. Mas also announced he was starting a round of talks with pro-self-determination parties – including the Socialists (PSC) – "to listen to everybody" about organising plebiscitary elections. In fact, he warned Rajoy that plebiscitary elections on independence can be called if he continues to refuse to negotiate. Besides, Mas confirmed that on Saturday that the Catalan Government's website had suffered a cyber-attack on a gigantic-scale, which was "organised by professionals".

The day after 2.3 million citizens gave their opinion on Catalonia's independence, the reactions of Spanish and Catalan parties did not bring great surprises. The PP, which runs the Spanish Government, considered the vote "illegal" and announced potential legal actions. In addition, they stated that "a silent majority" did not vote. The Spanish and Catalan Socialist parties (PSOE and PSC) insisted on a Constitutional Reform and rejected an independence referendum. Populist party Ciutadans (C's) asked for early elections, while Spanish nationalist UPyD wanted Catalonia's autonomy to be suspended. Parties supporting self-determination praised Sunday's vote. The governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU wants to explore negotiations, although Liberal CDC is sceptical about the results. The left-wing independence party ERC and the alternative left and radical independence CUP rejected negotiations with Madrid. The green socialist and post-communist coalition ICV-EUiA asked for a binding referendum.

The European Commission has been asked about November 9's participatory process in Catalonia, when 2.3 million citizens cast votes about independence from Spain, but refused to comment and downplayed the citizen mobilisation. After such a unique and massive citizen participation process, which was carried out in a "calm" and "successful" way, according to the delegation of observers from the European Parliament, the European Commission repeated that it was Spain's "internal" affair. The Spokesperson for the Brussels-based institution, Margaritis Schinas, stated that "it is not the European Commission's role to express an opinion about Member States' internal and constitutional organisation issues". Asked about whether the more than 2 million European citizens do not "deserve" a reaction from the Commission, Schinas stated "they deserve the words I just said; I have nothing else to say".

Catalan parties considered the non-binding participatory process to be "a total success" since it sends a strong message: in the near future Catalans want to hold a legal vote on independence. Around 2.25 million people gave their opinion in Sunday's participatory process in a peaceful way, in a symbolic vote without remarkable incidents. With 88% of ballot boxes counted, 81% of them voted for independence, according to figures gathered by the more than 40,000 volunteers and announced by the Catalan Government. An international delegation of observers considered the vote had "been conducted successfully" in "challenging circumstances". In fact, turnout cannot be compared to regular elections (when the total census reaches 5.4 million), since this Sunday's participation process is a non-binding way to gather opinions and it took place in difficult circumstances, with the Spanish Government's total opposition and even threatening attitude. Before knowing these results, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, asked the rest of the world for "help" in convincing the Spanish Government of organising a mutually agreed referendum. Pro-self-determination parties asked Madrid to negotiate while Spanish nationalist parties downplayed the vote and consider it "a fraud".

On November 9, the Spanish Government has once again downplayed the participatory process on independence held in Catalonia. And it did so on the day it took place and just when it finished, after more than 2 million people had peacefully cast their ballot in a non-binding citizen participation process that was organised as a light alternative of the original consultation vote, that had been banned by the Spanish authorities. On Sunday evening, after the polls had closed, the Spanish Justice Minister, Rafael Català, defined the vote as "a useless and sterile simulation" and "a pure act of propaganda", which does not have any democratic validity. In addition, the process was an attempt "to hide the personal failure" of the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, "for not having been able to organise the illegal consultation vote announced in December 2013", which was blocked by the Spanish Executive. In addition, he recalled that the Public Prosecution Office is "gathering data" in order to launch "the required penal actions".

At 6pm, 2 hours before polling stations closed their doors, 1,977,531 people had peacefully cast their vote in the non-binding participatory process on independence, which was carried out with no remarkable incidents. Therefore it is very likely that the vote will go beyond the barrier of 2 million participants, which had been informally considered a few days ago the target figure for considering the vote to be a success. The census of Catalans aged 16 or older represents around 5.4 million people, but this participatory process is not a regular election, it has no legal effects, it is being run by volunteers and the Spanish Government has put manifold obstacles in its path , including last-minute pressures and veiled threats. In addition, a figure exceeding 2 million people already represents more participants than the massive pro-independence demonstration of the last Catalan National Day, when 1.8 million people formed an 11-km-long mosaic.

In addition, the Catalan President, Artur Mas, responded to the Public Prosecutor Office's warnings by stating that he is the person responsible for opening the polling stations. Besides, three judges from Barcelona, Badalona and Tarragona decided to reject the petitions of taking away the participatory process' ballot boxes for "not being proportional". On November 9, in the middle of the participatory process, there were still some judicial actions on-going that were trying to stop Catalans from voting. The first group of actions were those carried out by the Public Prosecutor Office – whose head is directly appointed by the Spanish Government, which threatened to identify volunteers and which has already obtained a detailed list of voting centres. The second group were the complaints filed by Spanish nationalist parties and some private citizens. Populist UPyD and extreme-right parties PxC and Falange filed complaints on Saturday, asking for the ballot boxes to be removed.