CATALONIA -- Catalan News Agency - Judges say that Catalonia’s self-determination fits within the Spanish Constitution

Catalan News Agency - Judges say that Catalonia’s self-determination fits within the Spanish Constitution

33 Catalan judges have signed a manifesto in favour of Catalonia’s right
to self-determination. According to these law experts, “Catalonia is a
nation”, “without discussion”, and therefore has “full sovereignty to
decide on its own future”. The judges underline that the Spanish
Constitution already recognises “Catalonia’s national reality”. They add
that if “this recognition was not more explicit at that time” it is
because of the transition model from dictatorship to democracy and “the
danger of involution or authoritarian threat”, confirmed in 1981 “with
the coup d’état”. According to these legal experts, the right to
self-determination is not mentioned within the Spanish Constitution and,
therefore, it is to be interpreted according to international
legislation and from a “lively and dynamic perspective, not a sacrosanct
one”. They conclude that the Catalan people’s right to decide on its
relationship with the rest of Spain fits into the current constitutional
framework and is in line with international law. Some of the
signatories work in provincial High Courts and have been members of the
body governing judicial power in Spain (CGPJ). It is the first time that
Spanish State civil servants have made such a clear statement
supporting Catalonia’s right to self-determination. Judicial power in
Spain is totally centralised and has a deep centralist tradition. Judges
working in Catalonia come from all over Spain and they are managed by a
Madrid-based body.

 

Barcelona and L'Hospitalet judicial campus, which hosts many courts (by R. Paggano)