Mas hints at snap election if referendum doesn’t proceed with ‘democratic guarantees’

  • The Catalan president’s address opened the General Policy Debate in the Catalan Parliament, which continues in full session today

VilaWeb
Redacció
16.09.2014 - 13:59

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President of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, yesterday opened the General Policy Debate in a plenary session of the Parliament of Catalonia by reiterating his determination to hold a referendum on secession from Spain, and also by expressing his desire to exhaust the term of the current parliament {without calling a snap election} ‘if possible’. Avoiding this scenario is contingent on being allowed to hold a referendum on 9 November with full democratic guarantees, a matter that does not depend on him, Mas warned. ‘I would like this parliament to end when it is supposed to, at the end of 2016. If possible. In order for this occur, a vote on 9-N must be allowed with full democratic guarantees’.

In a speech in which he appealed for consensus and called attention to Spain’s ‘grave institutional crisis’, Mas said: ‘Catalonia and Spain are not on a collision course simply because we are traveling on different routes and in different directions’. Before turning his attention to the matter of the referendum vote, however, and in order ‘to illustrate the point’ that it is not working exclusively on the referendum, Mas discussed in detail the projects that the government has launched.

Mas summed up his address drawing four major conclusions: ‘Catalonia is beginning to make headway. Catalan public finances remain under severe strain. Our determination to secure the right to decide and a referendum vote is unwavering. The determination of this government to establish a system of best practices and against corruption is also clear and urgent.’

Mas quotes on the independence process

Vilaweb has selected the following quotes from the parts of President Mas’s address focusing on the independence process: 

‘After 35 years with the present constitutional order, we find ourselves on a course that sees us losing political tools and resources. That is, on a dead-end course leading nowhere. The {Spanish Constitutional Court’s} ruling on Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy in 2010 has essentially banished the Catalan people from the constitutional pact {of 1978}. It is surprising that the Spanish government has not taken any policy initiative {regarding the Catalan issue}. Actually, it has: saying no to everything. ‘No’ to the statute, ‘no’ to the fiscal pact and ‘no’ to the referendum. When Catalonia, which ranks first {in Spain} in resource creation and international appeal, asks to be heard, it is ignored or silenced’.

‘The Catalonia that has always collaborated with Spain and helped it to face the challenges that the country set for itself, that same Catalonia has grown tired of the treatment it receives from the state. It has not tired of Spain, but of the Spanish state. More and more Catalans have become disconnected from the Spanish state and no longer see it as their own’.

‘The demonstrations that have impressed the world by their size and civility are no longer the province of an angry Catalan citizen, but of an excited and hopeful Catalan citizen. Catalonia, with the tools and resources at its disposal, has generally done well’.

‘Most Catalans had believed that Spain would decide on the issues that are the prerogative of the central government with Catalonia as a partner. Spain has a serious constitutional crisis on its hands. It is no doubt a crisis with several different accents. And the most prominent among them is called Catalonia. Its strategy is clear: saying ‘no’ to everything, a strategy of fear mongering and of using the law as a retaining wall’.

‘There is talk of a collision course. In order for there to be one, we would need to be traveling along the same route and in opposite directions. But Catalonia and Spain are traveling on different routes and in different directions. There can be no collision’.

‘The referendum is consultative. The consequences will be political. And it is the job of a good politician to align the law with the will of the people.

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

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