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CUP’s veto on the budget for 2016 has provoked not only the extension of the bill for 2015 but also other major political consequences. One of them is the vote of confidence that Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, announced he will submit himself to. “I trusted you and I defended you until the end”stated Puigdemont, addressing radical left pro-independence CUP and added that the lefties “let down the hopes of millions of people”. Puigdemont considers the conditions which led to the agreement between the pro-independence forces after the 27-S elections to “have now changed”and therefore it will be up to the Parliament to decide whether to restore confidence in the current Government or call for new elections. “We can’t continue like this, we go nowhere with such a volatile basis”, he admitted.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont considers pro-independence radical left CUP’s veto on the bill for 2016 to “mark a turning point” and assumes that the stability agreement reached between pro-independence forces CUP and cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ is now broken. However, Puigdemont nuanced that this doesn’t mean that the current term of office is over but assured that from now on ‘Junts Pel Sí’ will rule in minority, with the 62 MPs they have in the 135-seat Catalan Parliament. During a meeting with the Catalan executive held this morning, right before the debate over the budget, Puigdemont stated that the bill for 2016 won’t be passed “at any price” and that the Government’s project is not “for sale” as the main goal continues to be achieving independence

The draft budget for 2016 presented by Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, doesn’t have enough support to be passed by the Parliament. Although Junqueras described the budget as “realistic”and “socially committed”, pro-independence radical left CUP considered it insufficient and still too “autonomic”, and claimed that the draft didn’t “reflect the pro-independence declaration proposal”approved by the Catalan Chamber on the 9^th of November. Thus, CUP presented their veto and urged the Catalan Government to present a new draft which would include the anti-capitalists’ proposals, such as disobeying the deficit target imposed by the Spanish executive and carrying out a deeper reform of the tax system. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, warned that in order to “complete the task”and put Catalonia “at the gates of independence”the Parliament should at least be allowed to process the budget. This Friday, Puigdemont accused CUP of being “destroyers”if they continue to be carried along by “ideological prejudices”and maintain their veto on the bill.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont together with Catalan Vice President and Minister for Economy, Oriol Junqueras met this Wednesday with radical left pro-independence CUP MPs, Anna Gabriel and Joan Garriga in order to discuss their differences over the draft budget presented by the Catalan Government. Puigdemont and Junqueras refused to go back on the budget proposal for 2016 despite CUP’s veto. “If we want to complete our task, the Parliament has to process the budget”, stated Puigdemont during the plenary session this morning. He insisted that it is necessary to agree on the numbers in order to move forward. On the other hand, the anti-capitalists reaffirmed their position and insisted on their veto. The CUP MPs warned during their meeting with the Catalan Government that “it would be nonsense to put the draft to vote because it won’t go any forward” and emphasised that the present proposal leaves “no room for negotiation”.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, regretted in a speech on Friday in Madrid that so far the Spanish political class has behaved as if it was “not concerned” by the pro-independence movement going on in Catalonia. Puigdemont urged the politicians that will need to form a new government in Spain to have “courage” in order to negotiate a referendum. According to him, “Catalans’ patience is not infinite”. “We won’t sit still with folded arms eternally”, he warned, asking Madrid to engage in “dialogue” with the Catalan administration. In another event, on Thursday in front of members of the business community, Puigdemont said that his government will never disobey the law while following the path towards independence. “I know that some people use the word ‘disobedience’. I won’t use it nor will my government”, said the Catalan President.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont celebrated the “consensus” that the construction of the Mediterranean Railway Corridor has amongst the political, social and economic agents in Catalonia and also amongst the regional governments involved in the construction, such as those of Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Murcia. However, he urged Spain’s executive “to listen” to their demands and also to Europe’s warnings and promote thislong-awaited piece of infrastructure which is set to transport freight and passengers non-stop from Gibraltar to Central Europe. Indeed, the European Court of Auditors reported on Tuesday that the EU “had not been effective in enhancing rail freight transport” and that the targets for “the number of freight trains and the tonnage of goods transported” on the section between Spain and France, which has still to be completed, “are far from being achieved”.

“This official trip and the meetings we have held prove that Catalonia’s political process generates international interest”, stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, on the last day of his official trip to London. Indeed, this is so much the case that Spain’s government sent two officials to the British capital in order to “counteract the explanations that the Catalan government has been giving first hand”, he lamented. Puigdemont made these statements on his last day in London, while visiting the headquarters of the Catalan bank ‘Banc de Sabadell’ in the City. “The European political, economic and social agents want to know first-hand what’s going on in Catalonia and why” assured Puigdemont, which “refutes the Spanish mantra, according to which the Catalan process doesn’t interest anybody”. 

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, gave the talk ‘Mapping the path towards Catalan independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. In front of nearly 200 international professionals from different fields, Puigdemont described Catalonia’s process for becoming a new state and said that he is convinced that “when the time comes” the European Union “will show its big ability to adapt” and will not let Catalonia, “whose economy represents 2% of the European GDP”, go. “We will adopt the 3,363 international treaties which Spain has signed in order to be perfectly integrated within the context of the free and democratic nations worldwide”, he added. The conference at Chatham House was one of the highlights of Puigdemont’s official trip to London, which will finish this Friday. 

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont met with former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, during the President’s official trip to London. In a face-to-face interview on the radio programme ‘El Balcó’, from Cadena SER radio, Puigdemont praised “Scotland’s know-how in terms of organising referendums” and assured that Catalonia would like to conduct its pro-independence process “in the Scottish way” but lamented that Spain “is not the United Kingdom” and therefore “it is hard to negotiate if there is no one at the other end of the table”. For his part, Salmond insisted that “it is not for Scotland to instruct Catalonia on the specific techniques to follow” in order to achieve their purposes but emphasised that “ballot boxes and democracy will prevail” and “the opportunity shall arise”. This was Puigdemont’s first event in London, where he will be on an official trip until Friday.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, will be interviewed this Thursday on the radio programme ‘El Balcó’ of Cadena SER radio station. The conversation will take place during Puigdemont’s official trip to London, during which the Catalan President will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at London’s Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. Puigdemont will be in London from Wednesday to Friday, and on the diplomatic trip he will also hold an interview with the BBC and attend business meetings in the financial heart of the city. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after visiting Belgium in the beginning of May.

The Catalan President said that liberal party Convergència Democràtica (CDC) needs to be “renewed” and members should not be afraid of forming a new one, even under a “new name”. “We need new leadership, a new language, new priorities, new ways of governing and to offer new messages to the citizens”, he said in an interview with CNA. The CDC party is celebrating an internal consultation on the 21st of May to decide its own future. Former president Artur Mas and president of CDC said this week that he aims to create a new party, in comments now echoed by his successor in the Government, Carles Puigdemont.

The Catalan President Carles Puigdemont announced that the Government will prepare new legislation to protect the core policies of the social emergency law suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). The new law will include “practical tools with legal security” that will “reformulate” the suspended articles of the legislation but “keep its spirit”. Drafting a new law was the main compromise of the social emergency summit organised on Tuesday by the Catalan Government, the local authorities and the main political parties in Catalonia following the Spanish Government’s legal challenge against the social emergency law. Puigdemont described the negotiations as “long, intense and very useful” and said that the new law is needed “to restore everything the Constitutional Court has suspended”. The meeting, he said, “wasn’t about political discrepancies but about showing that this issue concerns us all”.

On the 3rd of May, the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, spoke at the inauguration of the International Forum on the Reception and Integration of Refugees in the EU. The forum centred on what was described as “the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII”, focusing on its long-term and short-term solutions as well as its “challenges and opportunities”, according to DIPLOCAT, the organising entity. Barcelona’s “willingness” to accept 4,500 asylum seekers, 1,800 of which could be helped immediately, was spoken of by both Colau and Puigdemont. Puigdemont accused the Spanish Government of “ineffectiveness”, having not yet carried out its compromise of accepting 17,000 refugees, while Ada Colau stated that it “isn’t right” that Barcelona doesn’t have more power in deciding its own immigration policies.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, the mayors of Barcelona and other major cities in the country and local associations will meet this Tuesday to discuss a united response to the legal attack against the Catalan Social Emergency Law. The Spanish Government has asked the Constitutional Court (TC) to suspend parts of Law 25/2015, one of the more important legislative initiatives in Catalonia, which aims to protect the most vulnerable against energy cuts and other housing-related causes of poverty. The Catalan Government and the local representatives are expected to find a common strategy to deal with this legal challenge, which they consider a “serious attack” on the Catalan people and its institutions.

London is the chosen destination for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to continue his official visits abroad. He will be in the British capital from the 11th to the 13th of May. There, he will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. The Catalan President “will argue that the majority of Catalans now want independence” and “his government’s timeline for increased autonomy and, ultimately, independence”, according to Chatham House. Puigdemont will hold “informal and discrete” meetings with representatives from the City. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after having visited several cities in Belgium this past weekend.