'Pro-referendum platform calls on parties to support 'political solution' to Catalan conflict
Som el 80% pressure group urges candidates to include release of "political prisoners" and rejection of "repression" in their electoral programs
Som el 80% pressure group urges candidates to include release of "political prisoners" and rejection of "repression" in their electoral programs
Noelia Bail unexpectedly wins tight race to be chosen to lead the left-wing party in Catalonia
Xavier Domènech, from the movement of Barcelona's mayor and Podemos, has stepped down from all posts in parliament and CatECP party
Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and MP Xavier Domènech to head coalition of leftwing and green parties
Government approves of the idea, but warns such forum could clash with an initiative by parliament speaker
Head of Catalunya en Comú-Podem wants transitional executive of “independent figures with democratic sensibilities”
"We’ll turn sadness into energy, and we won’t stop until you’re free," says Catalan Parliament president Carme Forcadell
‘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
Alternative left alliance ‘En Comú Podem’ renounced having its own political group in the Spanish Parliament and will therefore be inscribed within the ‘Unidos-Podemos’ Confederal Group, their partner in Spain. ‘En Comú Podem’ gathers together members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, the Catalan branch of the Spanish party ‘Podemos’ and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset. ‘En Comú Podem’ obtained12 MPs in the Spanish Parliament, representing the majoritarian option of Catalans in last month’s elections. On the other hand, the other two partners of ‘Unidos Podemos’ in the Valencian Community and Galicia, ‘Compromís’ and ‘En Marea’, will seek to have their own group in the Spanish Chamber.
Alternative left coalition ‘En Comú Podem’ won the last Spanish Elections in Catalonia, obtaining 12 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament. Despite having repeatedly insisted on their aim to keep Catalonia within the Spanish State, their partner in Spain ‘Podemos’ is the only Spanish party which has openly supported holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia. ‘En Comú Podem’, which have been accused by some parties of being “too ambiguous” on this matter, call for turning Spain into a “plurinational state” with “differentiated solutions for Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia”, one of their candidates, Xavier Domènech, told the CNA. ‘En Comú Podem’ gathers together members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, the Catalan branch of the Spanish party ‘Podemos’ and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset
The alternative left in Catalonia is gathered around En Comú Podem, a coalition which is running for the Spanish elections with members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, alternative left-wing Podem, which is the Catalan branch of the Spanish party Podemos, and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset. En Comú Podem's programme focuses on social measures to beat the crisis which "is still lashing Spain" and improving the situation "of those who are suffering its consequences", stated its top member, Xavier Domènech. Regarding Catalonia's push for independence, Domènech defended the celebration of a "binding referendum" with "a clear question which can be answered with yes or no", he stated.
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.