CATALONIA -- 3,000 organizations to send Rajoy a letter asking him not to block "the legal" self-determination vote - VilaWeb
3,000 organizations to send Rajoy a letter asking him not to block "the legal" self-determination vote
The letter sent to Rajoy will use arguments from the Constitutional Court
Catalonia's National Alliance for Self-determination, which brings
together some 3,000 entities including political parties, local
governments, trade unions, employer associations, Chambers of commerce
and NGOs, held on Friday its 3rd meeting and decided to send the Spanish
Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, a letter to ask him not to block the
self-determination vote. The letter will insist that the vote is legal
and it will use part of the statement on the topic issued in April by
the Constitutional Court. This vote has been scheduled for the 9th of
November following an agreement by two-thirds of the Catalan Parliament
in December 2013 and the mandate from the November 2012 Catalan
elections. Rajoy has repeated on several occasions that he is totally
opposed to allowing a self-determination vote to happen in Catalonia, a
procedure he considers "illegal", making a restrictive interpretation of
the legal framework and the statement of the Constitutional Court.
Therefore, the vote will be organized under the Catalan legal framework
through the new Law on Consultation Votes. The letter will be sent
before the meeting between Mas and Rajoy. The Catalan President wants to
talk about the vote, but Rajoy stated this week he would not discuss
this issue. In addition, the Catalan President will also discuss
institutional and social issues, linked to the economic crisis,
explained the Alliance's Coordinator, Joan Rigol. Furthermore, a leading
NGO participating in the Alliance, Òmnium Cultural – behind the
large-scale pro-independence demonstrations, stated they were willing to
change the consultation vote's day in order to get the Spanish
authorities' approval. In fact, the Catalan President has repeated on
several occasions that he is willing to modify the question wording and
the day in order to reach an agreement with the Spanish Government or at
least to guarantee they will not put obstacles to the vote. However,
this week Rajoy downplayed this attitude and rejected participating in
"absurd" debates.
