Politics

A possible supplier for the referendum says it is "nonsense" to prosecute the Government for trying to buy ballot boxes

The international body takes "great interest" in the situation of Catalonia but warns that any vote should be "carried out in full compliance" with the law

Catalonia’s Government has written a letter to the Commission to inform them about Spain's refusal to negotiate a vote on independence

The Spanish MEP Esteban González Pons asked the Estonian government to stand firm against Catalan independence

The Human Rights Institute of Andorra (IHDA) and the Catalan rights association ‘Drets’, have filed a joint complaint before the courts in Andorra against four Spanish police officers who were part of the alleged smear campaign of the Spanish Ministry of Interior against Catalan officials, the so-called “Operation Catalonia”. The highly ranked police officers shall be investigated for crimes such as threatening, coercion and extortion of citizens of Andorra with the objective of “obtaining information” on “supposedly existing bank accounts” of Catalan pro-independence politicians in order “to destroy their public image”. Representatives of the private accusation explained to the press on Tuesday that the alleged pressures of the Spanish National Police forces on citizens of another country violate international treaties, and represent a “state crime”. The complaint has already been accepted by the Instruction Court (Batllia) number 2 of Andorra.

The Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency, Raül Romeva, has defended on Monday that “everything is impossible until it happens” and that “when it happens, it is irreversible”. At the opening of the conference, ‘Sovereignty and self-determination in times of Brexit’, organized by the Catalan Public Diplomacy Council (DIPLOCAT) and the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, the Minister of Foreign Affairs noted the “capacity for adaptation” shown by the European Union “throughout history” in order to respond to “the will of the citizens”. Romeva insisted that the birth of “new and smaller” States like a possible independent Catalonia or Scotland should not “frighten anyone”, but rather should be seen as an “opportunity”.

Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, complained about the Spanish Government's “gross ignorance” of the reality of the situation in Catalonia and considered its “lack of responses” to be the reason why Catalans are calling for a referendum on independence. “We are here as a result of the Spanish Government’s lack of responses and its lack of a project for Catalonia,” said Munté, lamenting Spain’s repeated refusal to negotiate on a referendum. The Catalan Government spokeswoman also emphasized the need to "set the date and the question of the referendum". She made these statements on Monday, after attending the cross-party meeting to assess Spain’s refusal to negotiate a referendum with Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont.

The two main Spanish parties are frontally opposed to the celebration of an independence referendum in Catalonia and their leaders will fight together against the Catalan government plans’ to hold one. In a phone conversation on Monday, the Spanish President and leader of the People’s Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, and the re-elected leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez, discussed their united front against a self-determination vote in Catalonia. “The PSOE will defend the legality and the Constitution,” confirmed the Spanish Vice President, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, in a press conference in Madrid, where she briefed journalists about the two leaders’ conversation. According to her, the Socialists are “against the illegal referendum being planned by the Catalan Government” and will block “any attempt” to “violate” the Spanish Constitution. Sáenz de Santamaría also insisted that a self-determination referendum is “unnegotiable” but again urged the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to present his plans in the Spanish Congress.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, called all political parties in favor of an independence referendum to a meeting on Monday “to analyze Mariano Rajoy’s negative answer” to Catalonia’s request for a negotiated vote, sources from the government said. “We are not planning to decide the date and question for the referendum,” the same sources confirmed, after members of the radical left CUP urged the Government to confirm when the referendum will take place. However, the same sources admitted that they might discuss it if “one of the participants” of the meeting “puts the issue on the table”. Governing party Junts pel Sí and radical-left CUP will take part in the summit, as well as Podem Catalunya, the Catalan branch of Podemos. However, Catalunya en Comú, the party of Barcelona’s Mayor Ada Colau, has so far rejected the invitation, arguing that any debates on the referendum should be held in the cross-party National Pact for the Referendum forum, and not in a government-led meeting.

A delegation of Estonian parliamentary representatives and members of the European Parliament met with the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, on Thursday in Barcelona. In declarations to the CNA, the head of the Catalonia Support Group in the Estonian Parliament and member of the Estonian Free Party, Artur Talvik, described the delegates’ “surprise” at the Spanish government’s “strong position” against a referendum and the “very strong methods” used to block it, referring to the legal proceedings against the Catalan Minister of Government for purchasing ballot boxes or the sentences for the 9-N symbolic vote. In the event that only a unilateral referendum is possible, Talvik assured that, in his view, it would be “also a referendum”.

The leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, admitted on Friday that “all democrats should be scared” at the tone that the current Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, is using with Catalonia. After Rajoy and other members of his cabinet accused the Catalans of planning a “coup d’état” for organizing an independence referendum, Iglesias said that the Spanish conservatives “are capable of anything”. “It would be counter-productive to use force” against the Catalan Government, warned Iglesias, who accused the PP of not being “up to the task” of leading Spain and facing its “multinational reality”. In an interview with radio RAC1, Iglesias said that calling a unilateral referendum on independence in Catalonia is a “legitimate” option but insisted that only a “legal” vote with “international recognition” would allow the Catalans to really become independent.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, admitted on Thursday that he was disappointed by the Spanish President's negative answer to his invitation to begin negotiations about an independence referendum. “It is not the answer that we were hoping for, and it won’t help solve the conflict,” said Puigdemont during the inauguration of an economic conference in Sitges. Mariano Rajoy warned the Catalan President that negotiations on the referendum are “impossible” and that he will “not allow” him to “unilaterally liquidate the Spanish Constitution, Spain’s unity and national sovereignty”. Rajoy suggested to Puigdemont that he present his referendum plans before Congress. The Catalan President insisted that Catalans have already done so on “numerous occasions”, always to find their proposals turned down. The leader of the opposition in Catalonia, unionist Inés Arrimadas, said that the Catalan Government is “trapped” and cannot continue with its independence plans.

The Spanish Minister of Defense and Secretary General of the ruling People’s Party, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, warned on Thursday that the Spanish government will use “all of the tools” at its disposal to avoid the celebration of an independence referendum in Catalonia. De Cospedal said that the Catalans’ plan to hold a self-determination vote is an “assault on the Constitutional system” and “the law”. According to the minister, the Spanish Government will not “bow to threats or blackmail” and will act “intelligently but with determination” if Catalonia goes ahead with a vote. “We are determined to stop ballot boxes being put out there,” she insisted, warning that anyone who “collaborates” with the organization of the referendum will “have to face the consequences and criminal charges”. “Everyone should respect the law,” she pointed out, warning that those who “manufacture ballot boxes, put out ballot boxes, or offer spaces as polling stations” will logically have to face the consequences.

Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, needed less than 24 hours to reject his Catalan counterpart’s petition to start discussions for the celebration of an independence referendum. “It is impossible,” Rajoy warned Carles Puigdemont, urging him to present his petition before the Spanish Congress instead. “It is not possible to seek to negotiate against the true democratic mechanisms and against the law,” added the Spanish President. Despite saying that he has a “total and sincere” willingness to “reach agreements” with Catalonia, Rajoy pointed out there are “limits” on the issues he can discuss. “Neither you nor I have the authority to negotiate what we do not have the power to negotiate,” he insisted, adding that doing so would “mean hijacking the rights of the Spanish people”. Rajoy said that the Spanish rule of law “foresees mechanisms for presenting all kinds of political aspirations” if they follow “democratic channels” and “obtain the required parliamentary support”. The Spanish President also warned Puigdemont that his plans to go ahead with a vote or even a hypothetical declaration of independence are “a serious threat to coexistence and the constitutional order”.

Sinn Féin’s leader, Gerry Adams, praised “the peaceful and democratic nature” of Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations and applauded the “positivity of the campaign” to call a referendum. “That’s a matter of the people there to strategize on, but certainly the right to a referendum is a very modest and very simple demand and it's one which the parties in government have been mandated to do,” he told the CNA. Thus, he called on the Spanish Government “to do the right thing” and lamented some of their recent actions, especially the prosecution of the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and other Catalan officials “for doing their job”. Adams met with Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, this Wednesday in the Irish Parliament and reaffirmed his “sympathy” for Catalonia’s political aspirations and praised the “bonds” between the two communities.