One hundred days to change Catalonia

  • Step-by-step guide to the most important points marking the calendar towards the independence referendum

VilaWeb
Vicent Partal
01.08.2014 - 18:44

La premsa lliure no la paga el govern, la paguen els lectors


Fes-te de VilaWeb, fem-nos lliures

One hundred days remain for the November 9 consultation. The coming months will be giddy despite the holidays, there are certainties and doubts, things we can be sure will happen and things in which we will have to wait and see. This is a step-by-step guide to the most important points marking the calendar towards the Catalonia independence referendum.

Tuesday 5 August. Meeting of the Catalan government in which Artur Mas makes a balance of the government’s work. A holiday period will start which might be halted at any time by an important piece of news.

Tuesday 26 August. If nothing has happened before, there will be the first meeting of the government after the holidays.

Tuesday 2 September. Parliament goes back to work after the summer break. If anything happens in August the permanent council will meet. On 2 September there will be the expected meeting of the commission of institutional affairs focusing on the statute of the Vall d’Aran. However, this meeting will very likely decide on the appearance of the former president Jordi Pujol.

Thursday 11 September. The great demonstration of the ‘Diada’ or national day. This will have a deciding impact on the coming months. If there is a similar or larger turnout to the past two years, the legitimacy of the process will be strengthened. This is a key day. 

Thursday 11 September. The Unionists call a demonstration in Tarragona, with an attendance that will leave many things clear. But beware of the extremists: these groups’ provocation is more and more obvious and there is a chance they will cause problems of public order.

Monday 15 September. Appearance in the Spanish audience of Jordi Pujol i Ferrusola (son of the former president of the government of Catalonia). The case might become very complicated.

Thursday 18 September. Referendum in Scotland. The result will not be decisive for Catalonia but nobody denies that it will have a great impact. If the yes vote wins, we can expect a fast reorganisation of the European Union to prevent Scotland from being left out, and this would be very clarifying for the Catalan case.

Second week in September or first in October. Parliamentary approval of the referendum law. The opinion of the Council for Statutory Guarantees will have been made public in the first fortnight of September. The Spanish state might make an appeal against the referendum law before the Constitutional Court. President Mas is very likely to call for voting immediately after the approval of the law and before the Spanish government has decided whether to take it to the Constitutional Court or not. As legally the consultation has to be made between thirty and sixty days after signing the decree, this will have to be signed before 9 October.

After 9 October. The register of participation in the referendum will be opened. All Catalans over eighteen can vote as well as community residents with more than one year’s residence and residents from outside the community having lived here more than three years. However, young people of sixteen to eighteen will not automatically be able to vote. They will have to be registered and will only be able to vote on 9 November if they have done so. The same will apply to Catalans living outside the Spanish state, who will vote by internet and can register now on this website. Those living in the rest of the Spanish state cannot vote.

From the signing of the decree until 8 November. Referendum electoral campaign. There will be no day for reflection. 

9 November. Day of the consultation. This will be organised exclusively by the government of Catalonia, which will establish two thousand voting points around the country. Voting will also be allowed by Internet and possibly by mobile phone.

Until 10 January. According to the referendum law, the president of the government of Catalonia has until 10 January to propose the decisions to fulfil the democratic mandate expressed by the people of Catalonia. If the double yes vote comes out, he will predictably offer negotiation on the separation from the Spanish state and the European Union and start the constituting process.

After 10 January. The Catalan parties will decide how to carry out the constituting process. A provisional constitution will possibly be drawn up and elections will be called to the Parliament to draw up the first Republican Constitution. The Spanish state is likely to try to hinder the process, but it is not clear how they can do it.

Recomanem

La premsa lliure no la paga el govern. La paguem els lectors.

Fes-te de VilaWeb, fem-nos lliures.

Fer-me'n subscriptor
des de 75€ l'any