11.07.2014 - 11:06
The Catalan President, Artur Mas, stated on Thursday that he is happy to meet with Spanish President Mariano Rajoy in Madrid anytime if he calls a meeting. “The meeting has already been asked for,” he said during a parliamentary session in Barcelona. “If you say to someone that you are available to meet him when he wants and he does not get back to you, you get the impression that he does not want to see you,” Mas said. The Catalan and the Spanish government have been embroiled in the last few days in a discussion on whether or not the Catalans have requested a meeting, and whether or not this is actually going to happen.
On Wednesday, Mariano Rajoy said that the doors of La Moncloa “are open” to Mas. “If he calls me tomorrow, he can come tomorrow,” he replied after being asked about the possibility of a meeting by Catalan MP Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida. The Catalan Government says that Mas asked for a meeting when he visited Madrid in June to attend the new King’s coronation.
However, the Spanish Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría stated that Mas has never officially asked for a meeting but only said that he is “available”. “They just need to convene the meeting. I would love to be able to call Rajoy here, but he wouldn’t come,” said Artur Mas on Wednesday. Sáenz de Santamaría repeated that if Mas formally asks for a meeting, he will get one.
Catalonia is planning to hold a consultation on independence on November 9th, and the Catalan Parliament will pass a new law in the next few weeks to provide a legal framework for the referendum. This comes after the Spanish Congress rejected the petition by the Catalan Parliament last spring to authorize the consultation. Madrid has always argued that a referendum, and even a non-binding consultation such as the one scheduled for November, is illegal under the Spanish constitution. Rajoy is expected to challenge the Catalan consultation in the Constitutional Court as soon as it is passed by the Catalan Parliament.
Artur Mas has urged the Spanish authorities to talk about the Catalan demands, but Rajoy refuses to accept the idea of a referendum. In recent comments made from Poland, the Spanish President said he would discuss everything but a referendum. In fact, the Spanish President has suggested on numerous occasions that he would only negotiate with the Catalan President if he gives up on his referendum plans.
This political stand-off is likely to develop into a constitutional clash between Spain and Catalonia. The situation may become more unpredictable in the coming months, especially in September, when Catalans are expected to demonstrate again in favor of independence. In 2013, around 1.5 million Catalans took to the street to create a human chain for independence, and the year before a similar number of people demonstrated in the streets of Barcelona.
