commissions

All the parties in the Catalan chamber except from governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ urged former Catalan President, Artur Mas, to appear before the Parliament over CDC irregular funding. He will have to do so after the main figures accused in the ‘Palau Case’ assured that former CDC, now renamed as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), received commissions from Ferrovial construction company in exchange for public contracts and with the intermediation of ‘Palau de la Música’. Indeed, Mas was head of CDC at the time when the alleged corruption took place. Pro-independence radical left CUP consider it “a fiction” to separate CDC from PDeCat and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) have called for Mas to quit his political career if the accusations over CDC irregular funding prove to be true.

The law will first charge those vehicles emitting more than 160 grams of CO2 per kilometre and in 2020 the bar will be set at a lower level. “This is a law of a country which is committed to the global challenge that humanity is facing” stated the new Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull. The aim is to reduce the level of emissions registered in 2005 by 25% before 2020 and “by 80% or even more” by 2050. Also this Tuesday, the 29 committees in the Catalan chamber for this term of office have been assigned presidents. 15 of them will be led by members of pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, including the Committee for the Constitutive Process. Muriel Casals, former president of the cultural association promoting the Catalan language and culture, Òmnium Cultural, will be head of this committee set up to design the roadmap towards independence.

The negotiations between the two main pro-independence forces in the Parliament over constituting a new government are still ongoing. After radical left CUP repeatedly stated that they won't re-elect Artur Mas as President, cross-party 'Junts Pel Sí''s candidate, the 27-S elections winning list presented this Thursday an alternative proposal: a draft to create three "government commissions" with delegated competences. Under this structure, Mas would continue to hold the Catalan presidency but left-wing ERC leader Oriol Junqueras, current Catalan vice-president Neus Munté and 'Junts Pel Sí' top member former MEP Raül Romeva would constitute a "Presidency's Board". The proposal also suggests holding a vote of confidence in 10 months' time to evaluate the evolution of the agreement.