"It is an historical day", stated the Vice-President of the Catalan
Government, the Christian-Democrat Joana Ortega. She also welcomed the
large consensus around this new Law, which authorises the Catalan
Government to organise non-binding consultation votes throughout
Catalonia. Ortega stressed the 80% consensus and thanked the parties for
having worked "with commitment and absolute rigour".
A law to call the self-determination vote
This legal tool will be used as the legal base for the non-binding consultation vote to be held on the 9th
of November, in which Catalans will be asked if they want Catalonia to
become a State and if they want this State to be independent. The
Catalan Council on Constitutional Guarantees (CGE), which is an advisory
body equivalent to a Constitutional Court, issued a report a few weeks
ago back the constitutionality of the new law and its use as the legal
base for November's vote. However, a minority of the CGE, which is
formed by independent renowned experts, expressed their doubts about
this last point.
The new law will be to call non-binding consultation votes on a wide
array of issues. The Catalan President will call them on issues over
which it has jurisdiction, except the fundamental rights included in the
Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. The vote will take
place at least 30 days after the decree's signature and not later than
60 days after. There will be consultation votes organised throughout the
entire Catalonia or at a local level, in a municipality or a group of
towns. In the votes for the entire Catalonia, such as that of the 9th
of November, all the Catalans of 16 and above will be allowed to vote,
including EU citizens who can prove they have been living in Catalonia
for at least a year and the non-EU citizens who can prove a three-year
residence period. Both the foreigners and the Catalans living outside of
Catalonia will have to explicitly ask to be registered to vote. The
electoral census will be formed from the municipalities' registration
census. The law also foresees electronic voting, but it will not be
available for November's vote due to its complexity. In addition, not
only will political parties be able to campaign, but also civil society
institutions. An Electoral Commission will be created, with 7
independent members of renowned professional prestige, who will be
elected by the Catalan Parliament with a 60% majority.
The new law is backed by 7 parties from 5 different political groups
At the end, the governing centre-right pro-Catalan state coalition
CiU (which brings together Liberals and Christian-Democrats), the
left-wing independence party ERC (which shares a parliamentary stability
agreement with the CiU), the PSC (which is part of the Spanish PSOE),
the green socialist and post-communist coalition ICV-EUiA and the
alternative left and radical independence party CUP have all backed the
new Law on Consultation Votes. A total of 106 votes (since one MP was
ill) backed the bill, against 28 "no" votes from the conservative PP
(which runs the Spanish Government) and the populist C's.
The doubts expressed by the PSC but refuted by a wide majority of parties
In fact, the PSC, which has backed the new law, also thinks that this
legal tool cannot be used to call November's vote. According to the PSC
a non-binding consultation vote in Catalonia cannot be used to decide
on Spain's sovereignty and the relationship of Catalonia with the rest
of Spain. However, parties supporting the vote reply that Catalans have
the right to have their say on how they want their relationship with
Spain to be like, including total independence. The PSC had been
supporting self-determination in the last Catalan elections but after
quarrelling with the PSOE, the PSC leadership decided to stop supporting
the self-determination process. For this reason, many members of the
PSC have quit the party and a few of its MPs have directly backed the
self-determination process, despite the party instructions to do the
contrary. On Wednesday, the Catalan Parliament filed a motion explicitly
supporting the 9th of November consultation with "democratic
guarantees", which was voted by 67% of the Catalan Parliament,
including a few MPs from the PSC who disobeyed the party instructions.
The parties supporting November's vote stress they are respecting the legal framework
The CiU's MP, Josep Rull, stated that the new law is based on an
Article from the Catalan Statute of Autonomy which was backed by the
Constitutional court in 2010. Therefore, it is fully Constitutional,
since it has also received the green light from the Council on
Constitutional Guarantees (CGE). The Liberal MP complained that "when
Rajoy says 'I can't [authorise a self-determination vote] and I don't
want to do so', he could do it, but there is not political will" to do
so. The problem is not legal but political: the Spanish Government does
not want to allow a self-determination vote to happen in Catalonia and
it is blocking it. Finally, he emphasised that the Catalan "nation" has
"the right to express itself". "A wide majority of Catalans have decided
that it's time for democracy, it's time for freedom", he concluded.
The ERC's MP, Gemma Calvet, defended the full Constitutionality of
the new law, mentioning the report from the CGE. The pro-independence
Social-Democrats MP accused those against the 9th of November
vote of "not honouring the Constitution if they deny the option of
listening to the citizenry" through a democratic vote. Calvet argued
that politicians decide on the laws, on the citizens' legal limitations
and on how to structure public services, "but we cannot listen to the
citizens?", she wondered.
The ICV-EUiA's Spokesperson, Dolors Camats, strongly defended the new
law, its full constitutionality and its full capacity to call
November's vote. The Greens MP said that the new consultation vote "is
the best tool, democratically impeccable, socially desirable and, now,
politically indispensable". She insisted that the 9th of
November vote should have "all the guarantees, all the guarantees
foreseen in this law: the principles of plurality, institutional
neutrality, transparency, non-discrimination and personal data
protection". "Democracy without freedom is a simulation, and we do not
want simulations; now we want to vote", she stressed. However, she
regretted that the Spanish Government and the PP are "allergic to
democracy". Furthermore, she pointed out that the new law will be used
for a wide array of issues and that her party could ask for a
consultation vote to validate projects such as the $6 billion holiday
and casino resort BCN World, to be built in Salou.
The CUP MP, Quim Arrufat, argued that the new law was the tool to call the 9th
of November self-determination vote. However, the alternative left MP
also pointed out that the new law will be used "to give Catalans a
voice" and will not leave politics in the hands of dark court houses or
in the hands of concealed politics". He compared the situation in
Scotland, "with ballot boxes, debate and result", with "Spain and
Catalonia, with war drums, prosecutors on-call, penal code and threats".
"From now on we have a law on citizen consultation votes. People, it is
yours; defend it and use it", Arrufat added. "On the 9th of November we will have a consultation vote; on the 9th of November we will vote; on the 9th of November we will vote and we will win", he concluded.
Spanish nationalist parties are outraged
According to the PP's MP, Santi Rodríguez, the new law "has been drafted 'ad hoc' for calling the 9th
of November vote" and "this is the reason" why they are opposing the
law. Therefore, the PP was indirectly admitting that the new law was
Constitutional, as it develops an Article of the 2006 Statute of
Autonomy backed by the Constitutional Court. The PP insisted that
Catalonia's "independence" is way beyond the Catalan Government's
jurisdiction. In addition, he said that "Catalans are not sovereign" and
reminded that the Constitutional Court said that, since "the
sovereignty belongs to the Spanish people as a whole". The Conservative
MP regretted the PSC's "naïve" support. He finally stated that their
"no" is a "yes" to democracy, to the rule of law, to conviviality, to
Catalonia, to Spain and to Europe".
The C's President, Albert Rivera, emphasised that this 19th
of September "is not a celebration day", "neither for those who are
happy for Scotland's 'no', neither for those who believe that a law on
consultation votes is good news". The populist MP added that "the United
States of Europe is in jeopardy because of nationalisms and populisms.
We have to fight them with democracy and with an appealing project".
Rivera said that "in the end, regardless of whether there is a
[self-determination] vote or not, the damage is already done". "The
fracture [of Catalan society] has already been accomplished", he
concluded.
