Rajoy rejects defining Spain as ‘plurinational’
Spanish president dismisses opposition proposal arguing the Constitution only includes "nationalities and regions"
Spanish president Mariano Rajoy is deaf to all talk of Spain as a plurinational state. Rejecting the socialist opposition’s acceptance of the term “plurinational” to describe Spain, on Friday Rajoy went only as far as admitting that the State includes "nationalities and regions" and suggested that "it makes no sense to dwell on it." "I am not in favour of the term plurinational; it calls for an explanation of what it means. I favour something encapsulated in the Constitution that is well-understood, in Spain there are nationalities and regions, it is what was agreed at the time," he said.
“What we need is to be clear and for things to be understandable," added the People’s Party (PP) leader, who went on to say that "the Spanish Constitution and all the constitutions in the world" do not recognise "the right to self-determination."
The president’s remarks come in the wake of the PSOE socialist party approving the idea of Spain as a plurinational state in its conference on June 17. "No one has told us what it means, which laws will need to be changed, what the legal consequences will be," Rajoy said of the PSOE proposal. Yet, Rajoy encouraged PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez to meet with him, saying he had "no doubt" that he "will support the defence of Spain’s unity and national sovereignty."
The issue surrounding the nature of Spain as a plurinational state is in response to Catalonia’s intention to hold a referendum on independence on October 1. While the governing PP party has adamantly refused to even discuss the issue of self-determination, the PSOE socialist party, with the reinstated Sánchez at its head, paid lip-service to Catalan demands for the right to decide by defining Spain as plurinational, but insisting on the party line of a federal solution to the Catalan conflict.
Continuing his strategy of appealing for Spanish unity, the Spanish president said that his government and PSOE had to “make an effort” to find common ground where issues of state were concerned, such as Catalonia’s bid for sovereignty. Saying he was “prepared” to meet the PSOE leader, Rajoy said: “I will have the meeting whenever Mr Sánchez wants it, and it will be good for us to meet.”