The Spanish Parliament rejects two petitions to negotiate for allowing a self-determination referendum in Catalonia

Madrid (ACN).- The Spanish Parliament has rejected two petitions urging the Spanish Government to engage in talks with the Catalan Executive in order to allow the organisation of a self-determination referendum in Catalonia. One petition had been presented by the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which runs the Catalan Government, and the other by the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA). They have been rejected by 78% of the Spanish Parliament, mostly by MPs from the People’s Party – which runs the Spanish Government – and the PSOE, apart from 14 MPs from the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). The PSC – which is part of the PSOE, to which is federated – decided to support the petitions and therefore to vote differently to the rest of the Socialist group. It is the first time since 1982 that the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) has voted differently to the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), which has created a political storm within the Socialist family. The PSOE is opposing Catalonia’s right to self-determination and voted against the petition. The Catalan Socialists back Catalonia’s right to self-determination even though they oppose Catalonia’s independence from Spain. In the last few months, both parties have argued about this issue and today the tension reached its climax. In fact, Tuesday’s voting difference might bring further consequences, as many PSOE leaders have openly asked to split from the PSC and therefore launch a PSOE representation in Catalonia. The PSOE leader, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba has not gone so far but he stated that he “might have to rethink their relationship with the PSC”. Furthermore, only 13 PSC MPs supported the petitions in the end, because Carme Chacón finally decided not to vote, since she is trying to lead the PSOE for the last two years. If Chacón wanted to still have the option to take control over the Spanish Socialists, she considered she could not back Catalonia’s self-determination.

The voting difference between the PSOE and the PSC, and Carme Chacón’s strategic move, have been the political news of the day. It has completely eclipsed the fact that the Spanish Parliament has refused to support a negotiation process between the Spanish and the Catalan governments to allow Catalan citizens to democratically express their will regarding Catalonia’s future within Spain. This refusal is another closed door to a negotiated solution to the deep political conflict at the heart of Spain’s territorial organisation and to Catalonia’s democratically-expressed claims.

The PSC made an historic step on Tuesday and for the first time since 1982 it broke the voting discipline within the Socialist parliamentary group. The PSC decided to support the CiU’s petition to back Catalonia’s self-determination process and it also backed another petition from the ICV-EUiA in the same direction, which was also rejected. However, the juicy anecdote was Carme Chacón’s announcement in the morning that she could not support the petition, going against the PSC’s instructions. Carme Chacón is not a regular PSC member, but she topped the PSC’s list in the Spanish Parliament in the 2008 and 2011 elections. Furthermore, she is was the Spanish Minister of Defence for three years and was very close to former PM José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero. Chacón stated she could not support a proposal “to break up Spain”. Finally, instead of directly opposing the petitions, she decided not to cast her vote. Meanwhile, she put her seat at the disposal of the PSC’s Secretary General, Pere Navarro, who refused to take a decision. Navarro, in a strategic move aiming not to make the former Defence Minister a PSC outlaw, stated that it was up to Chacón to decide what to do, since the PSC had already decided to back Catalonia’s right to self-determination. This way, Navarro was trying to avoid Chacón taking over the most Spanish nationalist side of the PSC.