Pacte Nacional pel Referèndum
CATALONIA
Campaign to collect the signatures of institutions,
organisations, elected representatives and private individuals, from
both inside and outside Catalonia, in support of holding a referendum on
the political future of Catalonia.
https://pactepelreferendum.cat/en
Form for elected representatives and private individuals to express their support for the National Pact for the Referendum
On the basis of a proposal by the Parliament of Catalonia, and with the support of the Catalan Government (the Generalitat), on 23 December 2016 the National Pact for the Referendum
was founded, bringing together thousands of social, cultural and
political entities with the objective of promoting a pact between the
Spanish government and the Generalitat which would allow the holding of
an effective and binding Referendum in which the Catalan population can
vote on their political future as a nation.
The Executive Committee of the Pact was given the task of drawing up a manifesto expressing this widely held aspiration. On 1 February, the Pact approved in plenary session the text proposed by the Committee.
It is now necessary to publicise the Manifesto
and obtain the greatest possible number of individual and collective
signatures. It is with this aim that we publish it in this web site.
Thank you for your support and for giving this call the broadest publicity.
https://pactepelreferendum.cat/pdf/manifest-en.pdf
MANIFESTO OF THE NATIONAL PACT FOR A REFERENDUM
The people of Catalonia’s feeling of nationhood and
their longing for self-government have undeniably deep
historical roots, and have repeatedly been manifested
throughout history. At the current time, Catalonia is part
of Spain, which, for irrefutable historical, linguistic and
cultural reasons is plurinational, although this fact is not
acknowledged by its political structures.
Catalonia’s desire to decide its own political future has
become increasingly apparent to the whole world. To
the point of becoming a sustained longing, which now
reflects the will of the great majority of its people.
The right to decide one’s political future is universally
recognized as being one of the essential and inalienable
rights of democratic societies. It is this right that
underlies the demand by a majority of the citizens of
Catalonia, who wish to exercise it through the means of
a referendum.
We wish to state that the Catalan people’s desire to
express their will via a referendum is the majority view
and cuts across all strata of society; and it is in keeping
with the civic, peaceful and democratic determination
expressed in the multitudinous demonstrations held by
organized society in favour of its right to decide.
We uphold that the current Spanish legal framework,
as confirmed by constitutional experts, allows for a
referendum to be held in Catalonia in agreement with
the state. If this option has not been pursued so far it
is due to a lack of political will on behalf of successive
Spanish governments. The law, since it is open to multiple
interpretations, ought to be understood as an instrument
for finding democratic solutions to political problems
and not a means to create new ones or exacerbate those
that already exist.
The individuals, organizations and institutions that
countersign this MANIFESTO view the referendum as
a unique instrument for consolidating democracy, for
allowing plural political debate, the search for consensus
and ultimately the implementation of effective
agreements.
Therefore:
We urge the governments of Catalonia and Spain
to overcome the political obstacles and their
preconceptions, and to finally reach an agreement that
establishes the conditions and the fair and necessary
guarantees for holding a referendum recognized by the
international community, the result of which should be
politically binding and effective.
We recognize the Parliament of Catalonia as the
democratic institution which expresses the popular will
of the country. Therefore, we support any initiatives and
agreements that it should make relating to the holding
of this referendum.
We express our belief that the referendum is an inclusive
tool that will allow the free expression of the different
positions that the citizens of Catalonia hold regarding
the political relationship between Catalonia and Spain.
We declare that democratic culture demands political
solutions to political problems. This is done by
appealing to the fundamental mechanism available to
contemporary societies: acknowledging and validating
the majority will of the people in the form of a vote.
The referendum ought to ensure everyone feels they have
been invited to participate. This requires a scrupulously
democratic, plural and equal debate between the
legitimate options that currently exist in Catalonia.
