'Democracy, legality and dialogue' are the principles along which the president of the government of Catalonia, Artur Mas, will work from here to 9th November. He said so in his appearance following the meeting of the executive council to make an assessment of the political course. Mas insisted that the consultation would be made according to legality. Which legality? The Catalan. The parliament will approve the law of consultations in September and the president will accordingly sign the degree to call the consultation; thus far, it will therefore be 'completely legal'. Then it will depend on the will of the Spanish state to maintain this legality.'I have said nothing new, I said that it would be done, it will be done and will be legal, we have the chance to do it (…) we only need them not to hinder it'. Whether the law and/or call should reach the Spanish Constitutional Court, which will imply its suspension, will be the decision of the Spanish government. 'In our system of law, this law may not be definitive if players intervene from the rest of the state (…) whether the law of consultations should continue to be legal will depend on the Spanish authorities’. In this sense, he asked Madrid to 'at least' allow the consultation to be made, having not dared to transfer the competence for referendums to the government of Catalonia. Catalan law 'allows the existing social majorities to be known', and the Spanish state has the 'chance' to respect Catalan law and listen to the 'opinion' of the Catalans. 'We are not talking about a declaration of Independence, we are talking about listening to what the people want'. Mas insisted that his aim is to fulfil his electoral mandate of the past 25 November and to do so according to the laws and in permanent dialogue. A process in phases If the Spanish government challenges the law of consultations or the decree to consultation before the Spanish Constitutional Court, 9-N will be left without legal support. On this point, Mas said that he would not talk about alternative plans; 'There is just one plan, and that is to vote. It is a plan which has phases', stressing that he would not discuss the different scenarios that might occur. Similarly, one of the new situations resulting from a state veto of the 9-N might be early elections. This would not contradict the 'ability to vote' that Mas has repeatedly proclaimed. When asked whether he might be able to see out the legislature (the President has expressed his will to see it out on several occasions), he preferred not to answer. 'Desires cannot be confused with reality, and we do not know what the reality will be at that time; the phases have to be seen through', Mas assured. 'Now we are focusing on 9 November. When we are near, I would like to be able to say that it will be 9 November, but this doesn’t only depend on us', he said. Catalonia must show 'psychological strength' Mas warned that many trials would appear in the coming months and that Catalan society would have to show strength in order to overcome 'everything that might happen'. 'We either have psychological strength as a people or we will end up bowing our heads.' Mas made this reflection when he was asked about the 'Pujol case'. 'Nobody knows, we are not completely sure' whether the case of the former president will affect the process of sovereignty, he reflected. The President also insisted that 'nothing will be easy, but everything is possible', showing conviction that Catalonia will have sufficient strength to face the challenges of the oncoming political course. As for the Eleventh of September (Catalonia National Day), he said that, 'it will be a key day in the decisive period the country is going through', and he encouraged peaceful and constructive participation, above all without violence or vandalism.