CATALONIA -- Mas: The State doesn’t want to talk, it wants to dictate - VilaWeb

Mas: The State doesn’t want to talk, it wants to dictate - VilaWeb:

 Mas: The State doesn’t want to talk, it wants to dictate

"The process has to end in a way that benefits everyone," said the president in an interview on TV3 with Ariadna Oltra

 

The President of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, defended opening a
dialogue in all senses with the Spanish State yesterday, even with
respect to the question and the date, but "without prior conditions".
"The State is not offering dialogue, they're imposing their will," said
Mas, in an interview with Ariadna Oltra which inaugurated her new ".Cat"
program on TV3. Mas added, "They only offer dialogue if we give up the
right to decide." The president insisted that the Spanish State must
understand that at this point in time, the only way out is for Catalans
to take a trip to the ballot boxes in order to decide the political
future of their country.

"We set a date and question so that the
process wouldn't get dragged on for eternity. In Madrid they are in no
rush at all," Mas said. The President said that the sovereignty process
had to end in a way that was beneficial for everyone. "Catalonia can't
hope to get to the end of the process as the victor in all points, with
Spain defeated. Nor can the opposite be true."

The president also made it clear that no one should expect that
things would be resolved quickly after the referendum. "At that point,
we'll have a mandate from the people, but what happens from that point
is still unwritten, and we'll have to sit down and negotiate to find the
best solution for everyone," he explained. And he warned that the
Spanish State would still have opportunities to find agreement: "It has
missed many opportunities, but it still has some left." And he
challenged the state by saying, "Indeed, Spain has one chance for
seducing Catalonia: by letting us vote."

"I'm aware that in Madrid they identify me with the black beast"

"I wish that in Madrid they didn't think that it was me who invented
this whole thing. It's not a sick plan of an insane person, it's the
movement of a people," said Mas. "I am aware that in Madrid they
identify me with the black beast," he added. He warned Catalans that
this political process needs "steadfastness and resistance" and that
people would have to come out on the streets as much as necessary and at
opportune moments, always in an exemplary fashion: peacefully and
positively." "That," he said, "is Catalonia's great strength, because
Spain is used to dealing with a subjected and vanquished Catalonia, but
not with a Catalonia which stands up for itself calmly and
democratically. That is something new."

"An offer? Who would believe it?"
With respect to
possible offers from the Spanish State, Mas explained that the Catalan
governments have always collaborated with Spanish governments. But he
noted that all of the offers and promises have all ended badly, "with
little, or with less." "If at this stage of the game we go back and do
it again, what kind of crediblity will that have in Catalonia?"

The president recalled the four years of negotiation over the Statute
of Autonomy, the path the statute took through the Parliament, the
Spanish Congress, the referendum, the Constitutional Court... And he
stressed the disappointing conclusion to the whole process and the
frustration it generated. "An offer? Who would believe it?" Mas asked.

  

Catalan President, Artur Mas