CATALONIA -- Catalan President: self-determination vote will have to 'always respect an existing legal framework' - VilaWeb
Catalan President: self-determination vote will have to 'always respect an existing legal framework'
Artur Mas stated once again that the self-determination consultation vote will take place on the 9th of November but he also added that 'things have to be done in the right way'
The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, stated once again
that the self-determination consultation vote will take place on the
9th of November but he also added that "things have to be done in the
right way". In front of an audience full of businesspeople at a lunch
event organised by Barcelona's Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, the
Catalan President stressed that "both things have to come together",
meaning voting on Catalonia's political future and doing things right.
Mas underlined that "this means always respecting an existing legal
framework". After last week's controversies on whether the
self-determination vote should take place if the Constitutional Court
were to ban it, Mas insisted that the vote will follow the Catalan
legislation and that the Court might not ban it in the end. He also
added that the self-determination vote has to be organised within "a
serious process", since "we cannot make ourselves look ridiculous" in
front of the international community. Besides, he admitted that
Catalonia's "freedom" would come with some economic costs, but that the
costs of continuing in the current situation would be higher. Finally,
he also mentioned the fiscal fraud scandal confessed by the former
Catalan President, Jordi Pujol, the former leader of Mas' coalition, the
governing centre-right pro-Catalan State CiU. The scandal "will not
affect me, nor will it affect the Government of Catalonia", he stated.
On
Thursday, the day after he met with the leader of the Spanish Socialist
party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez, Artur Mas insisted once again that the
November's self-determination vote will take place. The message was also
directly sent to a large representation of the business community who
were listening to Mas' speech. However, Mas also sent the message that
the self-determination vote will not be organised in a foolish way. "We
cannot make ourselves look ridiculous", particularly when the
international community is looking, he added. The vote "has to be done
in a right way", Mas emphasised. "And this means always respecting an
existing legal framework". "We are determined to make the ballot boxes
available and to make it right", he highlighted. This has to be done
"with a peaceful attitude and whilst listening to the majority expressed
through the ballot boxes", the Catalan President added. He also said
that the Catalan Government's "open attitude" and "will to talk" with
the Spanish Executive will be "permanent", before and after the 9th of
November.
The self-determination vote will be framed within the Catalan legislation
At this point the President of Catalonia reminded the audience that
the Catalan Parliament is about to approve the law on Consultation Votes
that will be the legal tool on which the self-determination vote would
be called. Mas stressed that the Spanish Government could simply not do
anything and just adopt a wait-and-see attitude, since the Catalan
legislation would allow for the consultation vote to take place. In
fact, Mas stressed that the vote scheduled on the 9th of November is a "consultation" and not a binding referendum.
Therefore, the Government, chaired by Mariano Rajoy, could have "a
very easy" role. Once the Catalan Law is approved, the Spanish "State
does not have to authorise anything; it simply just does not have to
appeal against the Catalan Law", he said. "If finally [the Spanish
Government] appeals against the law [as it has already announced], it
can do so without asking for the law to be suspended", the Catalan
President carried on. "The Constitutional Court can choose to accept or
not accept the Spanish Government's appeal, and even if it accepts the
appeal and suspends the Law, it can lift the suspension in a very short
time". For all these reasons, the Catalan President insisted that it
cannot be taken for granted that the self-determination vote will not
take place on the 9th of November because of a hypothetical ban from the Constitutional Court.
The economic costs of the current status quo are higher than those of independence
The Catalan President reminded the audience that Catalonia is already
doing things "in a right way" in many different areas, such as leading
the job creation in Spain, leading exports, leading the tourism
industry, leading the industrial direct foreign investment and leading
the deficit reduction. However, according to him, Catalonia is not
receiving "fair treatment" from the Spanish authorities in accordance
with its collective efforts. On the contrary, the Catalan
self-government is under constant recentralisation attacks, Catalan
language is threatened by Spanish homogenisation measures, Catalonia's
public services are under severe stress by reductions of public funds
unilaterally decided by the Spanish Government, and Catalonia's economy
is being slowed down by a huge fiscal deficit, meaning that Catalan
taxpayers and companies pay a great amount for investments and services
made in other parts of Spain, while the Spanish Government does not
honour debts and does not make essential investments.
In fact, Mas admitted to the audience that Catalonia's "freedom"
would also have some economic costs, since "it is not possible to think
that such a process can be done for free". However, he immediately added
that the costs of continuing with the current status quo would be
higher for the Catalan economy, businesses and citizens. "Freedom has a
price", but continuing in the same way " also has a price" and "it is
probably higher", he said. Furthermore, Mas also stated that those who
are speculating that " Catalan society will end up getting on their
knees" and give in to the massive claims to hold an independence vote
are "speculating way too much". "Denying the problem" is not an
intelligent option.
Pujol's fraud "will not affect me or the Government", says Mas
Regarding the fiscal fraud scandal that has shocked Catalan and
Spanish politics since the end of July, Mas said: "It will not affect me
or the Government of Catalonia". The former Catalan President, Jordi
Pujol, who chaired the Catalan Government between 1980 and 2003,
confessed in late July that his family had evaded taxes and hidden money
in fiscal paradises for 34 years. Spanish nationalist politicians and
media immediately linked this to Catalan independence, which Pujol had
supported since 2012. However, Pujol, who was leading Conservative
Catalan nationalism for three decades, had always opposed independence
and instead defended a devo max, with Catalonia staying within Spain.
Furthermore, there are increasing news and rumours indicating that the
Spanish authorities knew about Pujol's fraud for decades and covered him
up as he opposed independence and, because of his charismatic
leadership, was keeping pro-independence support marginal.
The Catalan President, Artur Mas, talking at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce's lunch event (by P. Mateos)
