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In order to outline their support for the celebration of a referendum in Catalonia, Spanish alternative left Podemos added a paragraph to its political programme for the upcoming 20-D Spanish elections. Initially, the text didn’t mention the word “referendum”and just referred to “the rights of the autonomic governments to hold consultations amongst the citizens regarding the territorial fitting”. This is still stated in the programme but they have now made clear their commitment to “promote the celebration of a referendum with legal guarantees in Catalonia so that the citizens could choose the kind of territorial relationship that they would like to establish with Spain”. The programme also outlines the party’s will to evaluate and debate the experiences of the UK and Scotland and Canada and Quebec.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) announced this Wednesday the acceptance of the appeal made by the Spanish government to stop the reform of Catalonia’s Tax Agency. The TC declared “invalid and unconstitutional” article 4 of Law 9/2015, which stipulated that all those civil servants who want to be eligible for a position in the body would need to have permanent positions in Catalonia. According to the law reform, those “officials who are assigned duties substantially matching those of the body and who already hold permanent positions within Catalonia’s borders”would be eligible to voluntarily join the Catalan Tax Agency through specific selection processes. The Spanish government’s appeal claimed that the proposal was against “the right of all Spanish citizens to access the entity under the same conditions”.

The Catalan chamber will present a plea against the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC)'s suspension of the independence declaration. The Parliament's Bureau approved this on Tuesday, with the support of pro-independence 'Junts Pel Sí' and alternative left coalition 'Cataluna Sí que es Pot's 5 members of the Bureau. The Bureau’s two Anti-Catalan nationalism representatives, from Ciutadans and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), voted against the proposal. "We don't understand that a jurisdictional body could stop democracy" stated Parliament's first vice-president and 'Junts Pel Sí' MP, Lluís Corominas. According to Ciutadans' representative in the Parliament's Bureau, José María Espejo, the declaration of independence "did have an unconstitutional component" as it stated that "only those laws approved by the Catalan Parliament would be obeyed".

Current Catalan President, Artur Mas, appeared this Tuesday before the media to comment on the recent control measures that Spain's executive have set in place to control Catalonia's finances. "We are facing an institutional attack" stated Mas "Spain's executive is punishing Catalonia for defending political ideas which are pacific, democratic and respectful of human rights". "This is really grave" he commented and added that "the EU should be worried" about the fact that "democratically elected parliaments and pacific social movements are being attacked". Mas considers the specific measures that Spain's government announced on Friday to control Catalonia's administration of their share of Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) funds is a way of "taking over" Catalonia's autonomy and self-government "after years of cutting them back".

Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro warned that Catalonia will have access to the 3,034 million euros from the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) after the control extra measures imposed by the Spanish executive "are accomplished". Last Friday, the Spanish government announced specific control measures for Catalonia "to guarantee" that the FLA's money "won’t fund pro-independence whims". According to Montoro, the Catalan government "shouldn't distract the attention" and should correctly administer the citizens’ money. In order to increase the control over Catalonia's finances, Montoro announced that the Bank of Spain, the Comptroller General's Office and the National Institute of Statistics will investigate the 1,300 million euros that Spain's executive believes wasn't properly accounted for last year.

The Spanish government will impose special conditions on Catalonia when transferring funds from the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA). The aim is to guarantee the “transparency” and “the legal compliance of the payments” as well as “make sure that the funds are destined for the planned activities”, stated Spanish vice-president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría this Friday. She justified these “specific and additional controls” due to “Catalonia’s singularity” and “the non-fulfilment of its obligations”. Catalonia is set to receive 3,034 million euros from the FLA, which will be subject to these new measures. Current Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, responded that the transferring of FLA funds “shouldn’t be conditioned” to whether the Spanish government “likes the Catalan politics or not”. He added that the “dramatisation” of the announcement is part of the 20-D electoral campaign.

The so-called 'Operation Enxaneta' is considered the most important in the fight against drug trafficking carried out in Spain in the last ten years. 35 people have been arrested, 25 of whom have already been sent to prison. 83 kilos of highly pure heroin, 1 kilo of cocaine and 360 grams of marihuana have been intercepted. Several bank accounts have been frozen, and patrimonial assets and more than 1 million euros in cash have been confiscated. The investigation, which started in April, has brought to light heroin's routes and sales channels, starting in Pakistan and finishing in Barcelona and Madrid, amongst other places. 'Operation Enxaneta' was carried out by the Catalan police in collaboration with the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Spanish Police and the Ukrainian Security Service, which intercepted a 71-kilo heroin shipment bound for Catalonia.

On the day after the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) suspended the Parliament's declaration to start the independence process and the same day that the official notification arrived at the Parliament, Spain's King Philip VI has guaranteed Spain's unity. "The Constitution will prevail" he stated and added that Spain "won't allow that its unity could be questioned, as it is the base of its people’s peaceful and free coexistence". "It is not the time to go back to the past" stated Spain's King "but to reaffirm ourselves in our compromise with a present and a future full of shared progress and democratic coexistence". "As head of the State" he concluded "I will always be by all Spanish citizens' side". Spain's King made these statements during a ceremonial event of the 'Marca España' ('Spain Brand') initiative, during which many personalities from the cultural, economic and sporting spheres were honoured by Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García Margallo. 

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) unanimously approved the appeal presented by the Spanish Government to suspend the Parliament's declaration of independence. The TC will now apply article 161.2 of the Spanish Constitution, which establishes the automatic suspension of any resolution appealed by the Spanish Government, and suspend the declaration, initially for five months. The approved appeal also warns Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, current President Artur Mas and all the members of the executive and Parliament's Bureau that those who won't adhere to the TC's resolutions could be fined or suspended. In this vein, Spain's public prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday that all the police bodies in Spain, including the Catalan Police, had been urged to investigate and denounce the possible "sedition crimes" committed in Catalonia.

The independence declaration approved by the Parliament this past Monday will in the end be taken before the court. The Spanish Council of State has unanimously approved the appeal that the Spanish government presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) and considered the independence proposal to violate four articles of the Spanish Constitution. According to the Council, it is an attempt against Spain's "national sovereignty", "the indivisible unity of Spain" and "the subjection of the public powers to the law", besides other articles of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Spain's public prosecutor’s office also commented on the declaration and warned that the police have been called to investigate and denounce any "sedition crime" against Spain's government, referring to the Parliament's foreseen disobedience to the TC's resolutions.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) will in the end allow the plenary session to put the pro-independence declaration to vote. The TC hasn’t adopted the precautionary measures that the PPC and Ciutadans asked for in order to stop the debate on the ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and CUP agreed proposal and will allow the plenary session to vote on the roadmap towards independence proposed by ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and CUP. They pointed out that precautionary measures are only adopted in “cases of extreme urgency” and that they understand that this is not the case. However, the TC accepted the three writs of protection presented by the Catalan People’s Party, PPC, the Catalan Socialist Party, PSC, and anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans. The magistrates expressed this Thursday in a joint letter that the appeals have been accepted because they “transcend the concrete case” and “raise judicial matters of a relevant social repercussion, with political consequences”. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy assured that if the pro-independence proposal is ultimately approved, the executive itself will appeal. 

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has started his round of meetings with Spanish socialist party PSOE, Anti-Catalan nationalism ‘Ciutadans’, alternative left ‘Podemos’ and Spanish left IU, the main political forces running in the 20-D Spanish elections. The aim of these meetings was to set a common programme to deal with Catalonia’s push for independence, which is outstanding as the centre of the electoral campaign. “I take responsibility for leading the answer to this defiance”stated Rajoy and added that the Spanish State “has by far enough mechanisms to successfully face this situation”. Rajoy assured that during these meetings with the other political parties he asked his interlocutors to “trust”these mechanisms and avoid “unproductive debates”on such matters, referring to the possible application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, suggested by Ciutadans’leader Albert Rivera, which would imply the suspension of Catalonia’s autonomy. 

The winning pro-independence cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí''s formula won't be repeated in the 20^th of December Spanish elections. Liberal CDC and left-wing ERC, the two main political forces responsible for 'Junts Pel Sí', consider the referendum already celebrated in the 27-S elections and bid to enhance the pro-independence base by running in the Spanish elections separately. ERC's general secretary, Marta Rovira, and CDC general coordinator, Josep Rull, aim to fill the space left by radical left CUP, their main partner in the Catalan government, who won't run in the Spanish elections. Rovira and Rull promised to work together in order to make the 27-S democratic mandate effective. To prove this, they announced the writing of a common manifesto which will support the Catalan government's roadmap towards independence. 

More than 7,000 catalans living abroad couldn’t exercise their democratic right to vote in the past 27-S elections. Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Mertixell Borràs accused Electoral Roll Office of “violating fundamental rights” by denying the government’s petition to extend the postal vote for those Catalans living abroad but contradictorily accepting to do so for soldiers and Catalans living in other parts of Spain.. “We warned that we won’t stand on the side lines and we haven’t” stated Borràs and announced that the Catalan Government presented an appeal to the Supreme Court to “assume responsabilities”. “It is clear that irregularities did happen in the months and weeks before the 27-S” and “someone must be held accountable, whether it is someone in the Postal Service, the Foreign Ministry, or the Electoral Roll office” she stated. “We have to make sure that this won’t happen again and that such an absurd situation won’t  go unpunished”. 

Spanish police entered this morning the house of the President of the Catalan Government between 1980 and 2003 and founder of the centre-right Catalan nationalist coalition CiU in the 1970s, Jordi Pujol. The officers searched for documentation related to Pujol’s eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who is currently indicted for alleged fiscal fraud and money laundering and at the centre of most of the ongoing judicial investigations involving the family. 15 other addresses were also searched this morning by Spanish police, including Jordi Pujol Jr’s office and other residences and companies related to Pujol’s eldest son’s businesses in Barcelona and Madrid. The operation is run by the Spanish 'Audiencia Nacional', which is a court investigating and ruling on organised crime, terrorism and international fiscal offences. Earlier this year, former Catalan President and founder of the centre-right Catalan nationalist coalition CiU in the 1970s Jordi Pujol, his wife Marta Ferrusola, and most of their 7 children testified before the Barcelona-based judge investigating the case.