Catalan News Agency - Rajoy doesn't offer an alternative and Catalan President will call self-determination vote anyway
Rajoy doesn't offer an alternative and Catalan President will call self-determination vote anyway
CNA
Barcelona (ACN).- The President of the Catalan
Government, Artur Mas, and the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy,
finally met this Wednesday in Madrid to talk about the
self-determination process and also about economic, social and
institutional issues. Neither of them changed their stance. On the one
hand, Mas will continue with the plan agreed among a majority of Catalan
parties to organise a legal self-determination vote on the 9th
of November. Mas emphasised that "an agreement with the Spanish
Government" on this issue would be "better" in order to do things "the
British way", but if Rajoy continues to reject to negotiate about such
an agreement, the self-determination vote will be called using the
Catalan legal framework. On the other hand, Rajoy repeated that such a
vote is "illegal" and therefore "it cannot take place and will not take
place". In addition, the Spanish PM rejected making any concession and
did not present any alternatives to improve Catalonia's accommodation
within Spain in order to reduce support for independence, such as
offering a better fiscal deal. In fact, Rajoy has always excluded this
possibility and has even rejected to talk about the mild Constitutional
Reform proposed by the Socialist Party (PSOE), which does not recognise
Catalonia's nationhood status and its right to self-determination.
However, during the meeting Mas presented Rajoy with a list of 23 issues
that should be addressed in the next few months which are not directly
related to the self-determination, such as the funding of basic public
services in Catalonia, funds for active employment policies, paralysed
essential infrastructure projects, the recentralisation of powers in
Spain or the Spanish Government's Education Reform that damages the
Catalan language. In a press release issued after the
two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Rajoy stated he would study the 23-point
document "with a constructive spirit". He also offered a "sincere and
loyal" cooperation in any matter that might "benefit Catalan citizens",
while stressing the unity of Spain. Meanwhile, Mas held a long press
conference in which he answered questions from journalists and stated
that there is "a dialogue open" with Rajoy. It was the first time the
two politicians had held a meeting since August 2013, and since then a
majority of Catalan Parties have agreed on an exact question wording and
date to hold a self-determination vote in December 2013.
Finally, after one year without talking to each other besides a few
protocol greetings in events they both attended, the Spanish Prime
Minister and the Catalan President met. Mas asked for the meeting in
early July, after weeks of controversy about who should call each other
to ask for a meeting, although both of them had been repeating for
months they were willing to talk. However, Rajoy also repeated that he
was open to talk about everything except the self-determination vote,
which is precisely the main issue that Mas wanted to discuss and is the
main issue in Catalan and Spanish politics at the moment.
Rajoy's single argument has not changed over the past few months: a
self-determination vote is illegal according to his interpretation of
the Spanish Constitution and the interpretation made by the Spanish
Parliament and Constitutional Court, which are both controlled by the
People's Party (PP), chaired by Rajoy. In fact, a few Constitutional
experts – most of them from Catalonia, but a few from other parts of
Spain – have been arguing that such a vote would be possible with the
political will to make it possible. This means that it would be legal by
making an open interpretation of the Constitution or by passing a small
amendment to the Constitution to make its validity more explicit. The
Spanish Constitution was already modified in a hurried way in September
2011, in just two weeks, to include limitations to the public deficit
and debt levels. Such an agreement was negotiated only between the PP
and the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), excluding the rest of parties
who had participated in the Constitutional Pact from 1978.
Jordi Pujol and Pedro Sánchez fuelled the meeting's intensity
The meeting between Mas and Rajoy arrived in an intense political
moment due to the self-determination debate and the closeness of the 9th
of November day, when a consultation vote is scheduled. However, it
also arrived a few days after the historical leader of Catalan
nationalism, Jordi Pujol, confessed to fiscal fraud, and after Rajoy and
the new leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez,
drew an alliance against self-determination.
The Mas-Rajoy meeting came five days after it was known that the
historical leader of conservative Catalan nationalism, and Mas'
political father, Jordi Pujol, had hidden more than €4 million in an
Andorran bank for almost 35 years without reporting it to the tax
authorities. Pujol, who had been President of the Catalan Government
between 1980 and 2003, gave up all his honorary titles, posts, pension
and office on Tuesday, the day before Mas met Rajoy. Many media outlets,
mostly from Madrid, interpreted that the Catalan President would meet
with Rajoy with a weakened political position due to Pujol's fiscal
fraud. When he was asked about it in the press conference, Mas stated
that his "strength is given by the Catalan people", since "the strength
of a country goes way beyond a single person".
Around 80% of Catalans want to vote
Opinion polls over the past 2 years have shown that between 75% and
80% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination vote in Catalonia,
regardless of whether they would vote for independence or not. In
addition, in the last Catalan Parliament elections held in November
2012, 80% of the elected MPs supported the organisation of a legal
self-determination during the campaign. Therefore, there is a clear
democratic mandate to organise such a vote in Catalonia, which the
Spanish establishment, including the PP and the PSOE, have been
ignoring. Polls also indicate that between 45% and 55% of Catalans would
vote for independence while between 20% and 25% would vote against it
and the rest is still undecided.
Besides, the meeting also arrived two days after the Spanish PM met
on Monday with Pedro Sánchez, who was officially elected as the PSOE's
new Secretary General this last weekend. After talking about the current
political and economic situation in Spain, the two politicians only
agreed in a single point: their views regarding Catalonia's
self-determination, which they totally oppose and consider a vote on the
issue to be "illegal". During his acceptance speech as Secretary
General, Sánchez read that "we have to eradicate from our vocabulary
words such as crisis, unemployment, inequalities, violence against women
and pro-independence", grouping all these concepts altogether.
Therefore he was putting in the same bag a crime with a legitimate
political option in a plural and democratic state. The day after,
Sánchez recognised that the comparison had been inappropriate.
Mas was interrupted by extreme-right shouts
In the press conference after meeting with Rajoy, Mas was interrupted
by a group of people shouting that Catalonia was part of Spain. Mas
held the press conference in the Catalan Government's offices in Madrid,
the same place where a group of Fascist and Spanish nationalists also
interrupted a welcoming drink offered on the Catalan National Day in
September 2013. Back then, a group of people pushed assistants and
reached the stage. This time, only a single person was able to access
the edge of the press conference room and shout, while the rest of the
group was kept outside the offices. After a few seconds of confusion,
the Catalan President proceeded with his explanations about the meeting
with the Spanish Prime Minister. The youth section of Falange, which was
the only party during Franco's Fascist and Spanish nationalist
dictatorship – a far-right party still legal in Spain – claimed
responsibility for the action.
The Catalan President highlighted 4 main messages
During the press conference, Mas wanted to highlight 4 main messages.
Firstly, that the "dialogue is open". The Catalan President stressed
that "today is not the end of anything" and "not all the doors have been
closed", he added. Secondly, Mas presented Rajoy with a document with
23 issues "not directly related to self-determination" but also
important, such as Catalonia's under-budgeted public services, pending
infrastructure works and the Education Reform that aims to decrease the
presence of Catalan language. This document is "not a list of
grievances", but of legitimate proposals and issues that have to be
addressed.
Among these issues, they discussed the funding scheme of the Catalan
Government and the rest of the Autonomous Communities, which provokes a
fiscal deficit that damages the competitiveness of the Catalan economy
and the effectiveness of its public services. This inter-territorial
fiscal transfer scheme should have been modified more than 7 months ago,
since the Spanish law ruling it establishes that a new system had to be
in place by the 1st January 2014. Despite the law obliges to
review it, the Spanish Government refuses to do so this year and in
2015. In addition, it rejects giving more funds to the Autonomous
Communities, despite the fact that they exclusively manage essential
Welfare State services such as healthcare and education. In exchange,
the Spanish Government offered to review the conditions of the loans
given to the Autonomous Communities through the Liquidity Fund (FLA).
These loans are the only access to credit that the regional government
currently have, since Rajoy banned them from accessing international
financial markets. According to Mas, Rajoy proposed a revision of the
interest rates to be paid back, as the only financial concession.
The third message refers to the self-determination vote. Mas told
Rajoy that a majority of the Catalan Parliament plans to hold a
self-determination vote on the 9th November, following a
clear electoral mandate. "We have the democratic base and majority, the
parliamentary base and majority, and the social base and majority" to do
it, said Mas. However, the Catalan President insisted that they want to
do it "reaching an agreement with the Spanish Government and within the
legal framework". However, if Rajoy rejects negotiating such an
agreement, they will use the Catalan legal framework to organise a legal
vote anyway. "We would like to do it [the organisation of a
self-determination vote] the British way", said Mas, but "we are totally
determined" to go ahead. "There will not be a stable and good solution
[for the Catalonia-Spain conflict] without a consultation vote",
stressed the Catalan President. In one way or another, Catalans will
vote. Mas was asked about whether he has a plan b if the consultation
vote is blocked in November. At this point, the Catalan President
emphasised that "there is only a single plan: to vote". Mas explained
that this plan "has stages" and "currently we are in the stage of
[preparing] the 9th of November". If, in the end, the Spanish
Government manages to block it, the self-determination process will
carry on anyway, said Mas, but he refused to disclose any further
initiatives.
Rajoy did not offer any alternative way out
Finally, the fourth message, is Rajoy's refusal of the
self-determination vote once again and his refusal to present any
alternative. During the meeting, Rajoy emphasised that the consultation
vote "is not legal" and "will not be legal", indirectly rejecting the
Catalan legal framework to organise it. According to him, "it cannot
take place and it will not take place". However, the Spanish PM did not
put any other offer on the table to modify the current status quo
and to try to find a better accommodation for Catalonia within Spain.
Regarding this point, Mas admitted he was curious to see whether Rajoy
would make a move or not to launch what is has been called "the third
way", between the current situation and independence, which would keep
Catalonia within Spain but with greater powers. The Catalan President
reminded that Catalonia has been "proposing third ways our entire life".
"We have been proposing third ways on manifold occasions in the
previous years", pointed out Mas, "and yet we are in the current
situation" because "the Spanish State has rejected them". Therefore, at
this point, if a third way has to be put on the table, it has to come
from the Spanish authorities in order to be credible, argued Mas;
otherwise is only a trick to gain time.
More on
Artur Mas, Catalan Elections, Catalan Government, Catalan Independence, Catalan Language, Catalan Law, Catalan Parliament, Centralism, CiU, Constitutional Amendment, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Reform, Education Reform, Employment, European Union, Extreme-Right, Franco Dictatorship, Independence, Infrastructure, Liquidity Fund, Madrid, Mariano Rajoy, Pedro Sánchez, PP, PSOE, Recentralisation, Referendum, Self-Determination, Spanish Constitution, Spanish Government, Spanish Nationalism, Transparency, Unemployment, Vote
The
Catalan President, Artur Mas, Barcelona (ACN).- The President of the Catalan
before his press conference in Madrid
after meeting with Mariano Rajoy (by G. Sanz de Sandoval)
Catalan President, Artur Mas,
Rajoy doesn't offer an alternative and Catalan President will call self-determination vote anyway
CNA
Barcelona (ACN).- The President of the Catalan
Government, Artur Mas, and the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy,
finally met this Wednesday in Madrid to talk about the
self-determination process and also about economic, social and
institutional issues. Neither of them changed their stance. On the one
hand, Mas will continue with the plan agreed among a majority of Catalan
parties to organise a legal self-determination vote on the 9th
of November. Mas emphasised that "an agreement with the Spanish
Government" on this issue would be "better" in order to do things "the
British way", but if Rajoy continues to reject to negotiate about such
an agreement, the self-determination vote will be called using the
Catalan legal framework. On the other hand, Rajoy repeated that such a
vote is "illegal" and therefore "it cannot take place and will not take
place". In addition, the Spanish PM rejected making any concession and
did not present any alternatives to improve Catalonia's accommodation
within Spain in order to reduce support for independence, such as
offering a better fiscal deal. In fact, Rajoy has always excluded this
possibility and has even rejected to talk about the mild Constitutional
Reform proposed by the Socialist Party (PSOE), which does not recognise
Catalonia's nationhood status and its right to self-determination.
However, during the meeting Mas presented Rajoy with a list of 23 issues
that should be addressed in the next few months which are not directly
related to the self-determination, such as the funding of basic public
services in Catalonia, funds for active employment policies, paralysed
essential infrastructure projects, the recentralisation of powers in
Spain or the Spanish Government's Education Reform that damages the
Catalan language. In a press release issued after the
two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Rajoy stated he would study the 23-point
document "with a constructive spirit". He also offered a "sincere and
loyal" cooperation in any matter that might "benefit Catalan citizens",
while stressing the unity of Spain. Meanwhile, Mas held a long press
conference in which he answered questions from journalists and stated
that there is "a dialogue open" with Rajoy. It was the first time the
two politicians had held a meeting since August 2013, and since then a
majority of Catalan Parties have agreed on an exact question wording and
date to hold a self-determination vote in December 2013.
Finally, after one year without talking to each other besides a few
protocol greetings in events they both attended, the Spanish Prime
Minister and the Catalan President met. Mas asked for the meeting in
early July, after weeks of controversy about who should call each other
to ask for a meeting, although both of them had been repeating for
months they were willing to talk. However, Rajoy also repeated that he
was open to talk about everything except the self-determination vote,
which is precisely the main issue that Mas wanted to discuss and is the
main issue in Catalan and Spanish politics at the moment.
Rajoy's single argument has not changed over the past few months: a
self-determination vote is illegal according to his interpretation of
the Spanish Constitution and the interpretation made by the Spanish
Parliament and Constitutional Court, which are both controlled by the
People's Party (PP), chaired by Rajoy. In fact, a few Constitutional
experts – most of them from Catalonia, but a few from other parts of
Spain – have been arguing that such a vote would be possible with the
political will to make it possible. This means that it would be legal by
making an open interpretation of the Constitution or by passing a small
amendment to the Constitution to make its validity more explicit. The
Spanish Constitution was already modified in a hurried way in September
2011, in just two weeks, to include limitations to the public deficit
and debt levels. Such an agreement was negotiated only between the PP
and the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), excluding the rest of parties
who had participated in the Constitutional Pact from 1978.
Jordi Pujol and Pedro Sánchez fuelled the meeting's intensity
The meeting between Mas and Rajoy arrived in an intense political
moment due to the self-determination debate and the closeness of the 9th
of November day, when a consultation vote is scheduled. However, it
also arrived a few days after the historical leader of Catalan
nationalism, Jordi Pujol, confessed to fiscal fraud, and after Rajoy and
the new leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez,
drew an alliance against self-determination.
The Mas-Rajoy meeting came five days after it was known that the
historical leader of conservative Catalan nationalism, and Mas'
political father, Jordi Pujol, had hidden more than €4 million in an
Andorran bank for almost 35 years without reporting it to the tax
authorities. Pujol, who had been President of the Catalan Government
between 1980 and 2003, gave up all his honorary titles, posts, pension
and office on Tuesday, the day before Mas met Rajoy. Many media outlets,
mostly from Madrid, interpreted that the Catalan President would meet
with Rajoy with a weakened political position due to Pujol's fiscal
fraud. When he was asked about it in the press conference, Mas stated
that his "strength is given by the Catalan people", since "the strength
of a country goes way beyond a single person".
Around 80% of Catalans want to vote
Opinion polls over the past 2 years have shown that between 75% and
80% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination vote in Catalonia,
regardless of whether they would vote for independence or not. In
addition, in the last Catalan Parliament elections held in November
2012, 80% of the elected MPs supported the organisation of a legal
self-determination during the campaign. Therefore, there is a clear
democratic mandate to organise such a vote in Catalonia, which the
Spanish establishment, including the PP and the PSOE, have been
ignoring. Polls also indicate that between 45% and 55% of Catalans would
vote for independence while between 20% and 25% would vote against it
and the rest is still undecided.
Besides, the meeting also arrived two days after the Spanish PM met
on Monday with Pedro Sánchez, who was officially elected as the PSOE's
new Secretary General this last weekend. After talking about the current
political and economic situation in Spain, the two politicians only
agreed in a single point: their views regarding Catalonia's
self-determination, which they totally oppose and consider a vote on the
issue to be "illegal". During his acceptance speech as Secretary
General, Sánchez read that "we have to eradicate from our vocabulary
words such as crisis, unemployment, inequalities, violence against women
and pro-independence", grouping all these concepts altogether.
Therefore he was putting in the same bag a crime with a legitimate
political option in a plural and democratic state. The day after,
Sánchez recognised that the comparison had been inappropriate.
Mas was interrupted by extreme-right shouts
In the press conference after meeting with Rajoy, Mas was interrupted
by a group of people shouting that Catalonia was part of Spain. Mas
held the press conference in the Catalan Government's offices in Madrid,
the same place where a group of Fascist and Spanish nationalists also
interrupted a welcoming drink offered on the Catalan National Day in
September 2013. Back then, a group of people pushed assistants and
reached the stage. This time, only a single person was able to access
the edge of the press conference room and shout, while the rest of the
group was kept outside the offices. After a few seconds of confusion,
the Catalan President proceeded with his explanations about the meeting
with the Spanish Prime Minister. The youth section of Falange, which was
the only party during Franco's Fascist and Spanish nationalist
dictatorship – a far-right party still legal in Spain – claimed
responsibility for the action.
The Catalan President highlighted 4 main messages
During the press conference, Mas wanted to highlight 4 main messages.
Firstly, that the "dialogue is open". The Catalan President stressed
that "today is not the end of anything" and "not all the doors have been
closed", he added. Secondly, Mas presented Rajoy with a document with
23 issues "not directly related to self-determination" but also
important, such as Catalonia's under-budgeted public services, pending
infrastructure works and the Education Reform that aims to decrease the
presence of Catalan language. This document is "not a list of
grievances", but of legitimate proposals and issues that have to be
addressed.
Among these issues, they discussed the funding scheme of the Catalan
Government and the rest of the Autonomous Communities, which provokes a
fiscal deficit that damages the competitiveness of the Catalan economy
and the effectiveness of its public services. This inter-territorial
fiscal transfer scheme should have been modified more than 7 months ago,
since the Spanish law ruling it establishes that a new system had to be
in place by the 1st January 2014. Despite the law obliges to
review it, the Spanish Government refuses to do so this year and in
2015. In addition, it rejects giving more funds to the Autonomous
Communities, despite the fact that they exclusively manage essential
Welfare State services such as healthcare and education. In exchange,
the Spanish Government offered to review the conditions of the loans
given to the Autonomous Communities through the Liquidity Fund (FLA).
These loans are the only access to credit that the regional government
currently have, since Rajoy banned them from accessing international
financial markets. According to Mas, Rajoy proposed a revision of the
interest rates to be paid back, as the only financial concession.
The third message refers to the self-determination vote. Mas told
Rajoy that a majority of the Catalan Parliament plans to hold a
self-determination vote on the 9th November, following a
clear electoral mandate. "We have the democratic base and majority, the
parliamentary base and majority, and the social base and majority" to do
it, said Mas. However, the Catalan President insisted that they want to
do it "reaching an agreement with the Spanish Government and within the
legal framework". However, if Rajoy rejects negotiating such an
agreement, they will use the Catalan legal framework to organise a legal
vote anyway. "We would like to do it [the organisation of a
self-determination vote] the British way", said Mas, but "we are totally
determined" to go ahead. "There will not be a stable and good solution
[for the Catalonia-Spain conflict] without a consultation vote",
stressed the Catalan President. In one way or another, Catalans will
vote. Mas was asked about whether he has a plan b if the consultation
vote is blocked in November. At this point, the Catalan President
emphasised that "there is only a single plan: to vote". Mas explained
that this plan "has stages" and "currently we are in the stage of
[preparing] the 9th of November". If, in the end, the Spanish
Government manages to block it, the self-determination process will
carry on anyway, said Mas, but he refused to disclose any further
initiatives.
Rajoy did not offer any alternative way out
Finally, the fourth message, is Rajoy's refusal of the
self-determination vote once again and his refusal to present any
alternative. During the meeting, Rajoy emphasised that the consultation
vote "is not legal" and "will not be legal", indirectly rejecting the
Catalan legal framework to organise it. According to him, "it cannot
take place and it will not take place". However, the Spanish PM did not
put any other offer on the table to modify the current status quo
and to try to find a better accommodation for Catalonia within Spain.
Regarding this point, Mas admitted he was curious to see whether Rajoy
would make a move or not to launch what is has been called "the third
way", between the current situation and independence, which would keep
Catalonia within Spain but with greater powers. The Catalan President
reminded that Catalonia has been "proposing third ways our entire life".
"We have been proposing third ways on manifold occasions in the
previous years", pointed out Mas, "and yet we are in the current
situation" because "the Spanish State has rejected them". Therefore, at
this point, if a third way has to be put on the table, it has to come
from the Spanish authorities in order to be credible, argued Mas;
otherwise is only a trick to gain time.
protocol greetings in events they both attended, the Spanish Prime
Minister and the Catalan President met. Mas asked for the meeting in
early July, after weeks of controversy about who should call each other
to ask for a meeting, although both of them had been repeating for
months they were willing to talk. However, Rajoy also repeated that he
was open to talk about everything except the self-determination vote,
which is precisely the main issue that Mas wanted to discuss and is the
main issue in Catalan and Spanish politics at the moment.
Rajoy's single argument has not changed over the past few months: a
self-determination vote is illegal according to his interpretation of
the Spanish Constitution and the interpretation made by the Spanish
Parliament and Constitutional Court, which are both controlled by the
People's Party (PP), chaired by Rajoy. In fact, a few Constitutional
experts – most of them from Catalonia, but a few from other parts of
Spain – have been arguing that such a vote would be possible with the
political will to make it possible. This means that it would be legal by
making an open interpretation of the Constitution or by passing a small
amendment to the Constitution to make its validity more explicit. The
Spanish Constitution was already modified in a hurried way in September
2011, in just two weeks, to include limitations to the public deficit
and debt levels. Such an agreement was negotiated only between the PP
and the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), excluding the rest of parties
who had participated in the Constitutional Pact from 1978.
Jordi Pujol and Pedro Sánchez fuelled the meeting's intensity
The meeting between Mas and Rajoy arrived in an intense political
moment due to the self-determination debate and the closeness of the 9th
of November day, when a consultation vote is scheduled. However, it
also arrived a few days after the historical leader of Catalan
nationalism, Jordi Pujol, confessed to fiscal fraud, and after Rajoy and
the new leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez,
drew an alliance against self-determination.
The Mas-Rajoy meeting came five days after it was known that the
historical leader of conservative Catalan nationalism, and Mas'
political father, Jordi Pujol, had hidden more than €4 million in an
Andorran bank for almost 35 years without reporting it to the tax
authorities. Pujol, who had been President of the Catalan Government
between 1980 and 2003, gave up all his honorary titles, posts, pension
and office on Tuesday, the day before Mas met Rajoy. Many media outlets,
mostly from Madrid, interpreted that the Catalan President would meet
with Rajoy with a weakened political position due to Pujol's fiscal
fraud. When he was asked about it in the press conference, Mas stated
that his "strength is given by the Catalan people", since "the strength
of a country goes way beyond a single person".
Around 80% of Catalans want to vote
Opinion polls over the past 2 years have shown that between 75% and
80% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination vote in Catalonia,
regardless of whether they would vote for independence or not. In
addition, in the last Catalan Parliament elections held in November
2012, 80% of the elected MPs supported the organisation of a legal
self-determination during the campaign. Therefore, there is a clear
democratic mandate to organise such a vote in Catalonia, which the
Spanish establishment, including the PP and the PSOE, have been
ignoring. Polls also indicate that between 45% and 55% of Catalans would
vote for independence while between 20% and 25% would vote against it
and the rest is still undecided.
Besides, the meeting also arrived two days after the Spanish PM met
on Monday with Pedro Sánchez, who was officially elected as the PSOE's
new Secretary General this last weekend. After talking about the current
political and economic situation in Spain, the two politicians only
agreed in a single point: their views regarding Catalonia's
self-determination, which they totally oppose and consider a vote on the
issue to be "illegal". During his acceptance speech as Secretary
General, Sánchez read that "we have to eradicate from our vocabulary
words such as crisis, unemployment, inequalities, violence against women
and pro-independence", grouping all these concepts altogether.
Therefore he was putting in the same bag a crime with a legitimate
political option in a plural and democratic state. The day after,
Sánchez recognised that the comparison had been inappropriate.
Mas was interrupted by extreme-right shouts
In the press conference after meeting with Rajoy, Mas was interrupted
by a group of people shouting that Catalonia was part of Spain. Mas
held the press conference in the Catalan Government's offices in Madrid,
the same place where a group of Fascist and Spanish nationalists also
interrupted a welcoming drink offered on the Catalan National Day in
September 2013. Back then, a group of people pushed assistants and
reached the stage. This time, only a single person was able to access
the edge of the press conference room and shout, while the rest of the
group was kept outside the offices. After a few seconds of confusion,
the Catalan President proceeded with his explanations about the meeting
with the Spanish Prime Minister. The youth section of Falange, which was
the only party during Franco's Fascist and Spanish nationalist
dictatorship – a far-right party still legal in Spain – claimed
responsibility for the action.
The Catalan President highlighted 4 main messages
During the press conference, Mas wanted to highlight 4 main messages.
Firstly, that the "dialogue is open". The Catalan President stressed
that "today is not the end of anything" and "not all the doors have been
closed", he added. Secondly, Mas presented Rajoy with a document with
23 issues "not directly related to self-determination" but also
important, such as Catalonia's under-budgeted public services, pending
infrastructure works and the Education Reform that aims to decrease the
presence of Catalan language. This document is "not a list of
grievances", but of legitimate proposals and issues that have to be
addressed.
Among these issues, they discussed the funding scheme of the Catalan
Government and the rest of the Autonomous Communities, which provokes a
fiscal deficit that damages the competitiveness of the Catalan economy
and the effectiveness of its public services. This inter-territorial
fiscal transfer scheme should have been modified more than 7 months ago,
since the Spanish law ruling it establishes that a new system had to be
in place by the 1st January 2014. Despite the law obliges to
review it, the Spanish Government refuses to do so this year and in
2015. In addition, it rejects giving more funds to the Autonomous
Communities, despite the fact that they exclusively manage essential
Welfare State services such as healthcare and education. In exchange,
the Spanish Government offered to review the conditions of the loans
given to the Autonomous Communities through the Liquidity Fund (FLA).
These loans are the only access to credit that the regional government
currently have, since Rajoy banned them from accessing international
financial markets. According to Mas, Rajoy proposed a revision of the
interest rates to be paid back, as the only financial concession.
The third message refers to the self-determination vote. Mas told
Rajoy that a majority of the Catalan Parliament plans to hold a
self-determination vote on the 9th November, following a
clear electoral mandate. "We have the democratic base and majority, the
parliamentary base and majority, and the social base and majority" to do
it, said Mas. However, the Catalan President insisted that they want to
do it "reaching an agreement with the Spanish Government and within the
legal framework". However, if Rajoy rejects negotiating such an
agreement, they will use the Catalan legal framework to organise a legal
vote anyway. "We would like to do it [the organisation of a
self-determination vote] the British way", said Mas, but "we are totally
determined" to go ahead. "There will not be a stable and good solution
[for the Catalonia-Spain conflict] without a consultation vote",
stressed the Catalan President. In one way or another, Catalans will
vote. Mas was asked about whether he has a plan b if the consultation
vote is blocked in November. At this point, the Catalan President
emphasised that "there is only a single plan: to vote". Mas explained
that this plan "has stages" and "currently we are in the stage of
[preparing] the 9th of November". If, in the end, the Spanish
Government manages to block it, the self-determination process will
carry on anyway, said Mas, but he refused to disclose any further
initiatives.
Rajoy did not offer any alternative way out
Finally, the fourth message, is Rajoy's refusal of the
self-determination vote once again and his refusal to present any
alternative. During the meeting, Rajoy emphasised that the consultation
vote "is not legal" and "will not be legal", indirectly rejecting the
Catalan legal framework to organise it. According to him, "it cannot
take place and it will not take place". However, the Spanish PM did not
put any other offer on the table to modify the current status quo
and to try to find a better accommodation for Catalonia within Spain.
Regarding this point, Mas admitted he was curious to see whether Rajoy
would make a move or not to launch what is has been called "the third
way", between the current situation and independence, which would keep
Catalonia within Spain but with greater powers. The Catalan President
reminded that Catalonia has been "proposing third ways our entire life".
"We have been proposing third ways on manifold occasions in the
previous years", pointed out Mas, "and yet we are in the current
situation" because "the Spanish State has rejected them". Therefore, at
this point, if a third way has to be put on the table, it has to come
from the Spanish authorities in order to be credible, argued Mas;
otherwise is only a trick to gain time.
More on
Artur Mas, Catalan Elections, Catalan Government, Catalan Independence, Catalan Language, Catalan Law, Catalan Parliament, Centralism, CiU, Constitutional Amendment, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Reform, Education Reform, Employment, European Union, Extreme-Right, Franco Dictatorship, Independence, Infrastructure, Liquidity Fund, Madrid, Mariano Rajoy, Pedro Sánchez, PP, PSOE, Recentralisation, Referendum, Self-Determination, Spanish Constitution, Spanish Government, Spanish Nationalism, Transparency, Unemployment, VoteThe
Catalan President, Artur Mas, before his press conference in Madrid
after meeting with Mariano Rajoy (by G. Sanz de Sandoval)
Catalan President, Artur Mas, before his press conference in Madrid
after meeting with Mariano Rajoy (by G. Sanz de Sandoval)
after meeting with Mariano Rajoy (by G. Sanz de Sandoval)
