Politics
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Politics
The Catalan President denies playing any part in the ‘Palau’ corruption case before a parliamentary committee
Politics
The Catalan President hopes the Spanish Prime Minister will answer the letter to organise a self-determination vote
Politics
The Catalan Parliament debates on measures to fight youth unemployment
Politics
The Catalan President and CDC leader, Artur Mas, guarantees he will react if the party’s corruption scandal is proved
Politics
The Spanish Constitutional Court maintains the suspension of the Catalan Declaration of Sovereignty
The Constitutional Court rejected the allegations presented by the Catalan Parliament against the decision to temporarily suspend the Declaration of Sovereignty. This text was approved in January by two thirds of the Catalan Parliament and it stated that the people of Catalonia are sovereign to decide on their collective future. The Spanish Government took the Declaration to the Constitutional Court, which accepted the appeal and temporarily suspended the text until it reached a final decision – which might take years. The Catalan President stated he was counting on the Court’s decision to maintain the suspension and he emphasised that Catalonia’s self-determination process keeps moving forward. The majority of Catalan parties accused the Constitutional Court of being politicised while Spanish nationalist parties celebrated the decision.
Politics
The Catalan Parliament establishes the committee for self-determination with 80% support
Politics
Massive concert supporting Catalonia’s self-determination is ignored by Spanish politicians
On Saturday evening, 90,000 people gathered in FC Barcelona Camp Nou stadium to attend a concert backing Catalonia’s right to self-determination. The event, organised by a civil society entity – Òmnium Cultural – and without public funding, called for a self-determination referendum in 2014. The two largest political parties in Catalonia, which share a parliamentary stability pact, stated that a specific date for a self-determination vote should be fixed after December 2013. In addition, they insisted that the Catalan President will send a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister in July asking for this vote to be organised. However, in Madrid, the reactions have been almost non-existent. The Spanish Justice Minister insisted that a referendum would be illegal since sovereignty is rooted into the Spanish people as a whole.
Politics
The Catalan President to formally ask Madrid for a vote after the first meeting of the Self-Determination Pact
The participants to the so-called National Alliance for the Self-Determination Right have met for the first time, bringing together almost 50 entities, including political parties, business associations, trade unions, social organisations and cultural institutions. This transversal initiative gathering together a wide part of Catalan society aims to reach an internal consensus on how to proceed in order to allow Catalans to vote on their collective future. Attendees agreed to ask the former President of the Catalan Parliament, Joan Rigol, to draft a text expressing the “common denominators” of the participants. In addition, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, will send a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, making a formal petition for the organisation of a self-determination vote in Catalonia.
Politics
Catalonia rejects giving away power recognised by its main law and regrets the Spanish Government's recentralisation
On Friday, the Spanish Government approved a €37.7 billion reform of Spain’s public sector which fosters the elimination of Autonomous Community bodies considered to be “redundant”. Instead of directly obliging the Autonomous Communities to eliminate them – which might be very tricky legally speaking, the Spanish Executive will link their suppression to the deficit targets allowed to the regional governments and the funds provided. However, in the case of Catalonia, most of the bodies included in the reform are recognised by Catalonia’s main law, approved in 2006 by the Spanish Parliament and through a binding referendum. The Catalan Government and most of the political parties are accusing the Spanish Executive of trying to recentralise Spain. In addition, the Catalan President said that unfortunately Madrid “teaches lessons” but “does not do its homework” and eliminates Ministries without competences.
Politics
55.6% of Catalans would support independence from Spain in a referendum while 23.4% would oppose it
According to an opinion poll from the Catalan Polling Centre (CEO), the Catalan political landscape would change, since the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) would would become the largest force in the Catalan Parliament after doubling the number of its MPs compared to the electoral results from last November. Meanwhile, the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which has been running the Catalan Government since 2010, would continue to lose support. However, parties supporting Catalonia’s independence increase their total support while the number of those defending Spain’s unity drops. The CEO thinks the data show that over the last 9 months, the support for independence remains “stable” in a hypothetical referendum, ranging between 54% and 57%. However, those opposing independence grew from 20.7% to 23.4%, while the number of undecided citizens decreased to 15%.
Politics
The President of the Catalan Government aims to stay in office regardless of the self-determination vote
Society
Political parties agree on a common strategy to face the Spanish Government's Education Law against the Catalan language
The parties defending the current Catalan school model, which represent 80% of Catalonia’s Parliament, met on Tuesday to discuss how to face the Spanish Government’s Education Reform, known as LOMCE. They all agreed to act together in Madrid to try to change the law. The Catalan Government proposed modifying the reform in the Spanish Parliament in order to make it honour Catalonia’s main law – approved via a binding referendum – which clearly states that Catalan is the language of instruction. The Catalan school model is based on the linguistic immersion principle, guaranteeing equal opportunities and social cohesion. The Spanish Executive’s Education Reform aims to stop linguistic immersion and allow parents to choose Spanish as their children’s language of instruction.
Society
Madrid to oblige the Catalan Government to pay for a privately-owned school if a pupil wants to study in Spanish
The Spanish Government has approved its Education Reform, which aims to make Spanish a teaching language in Catalonia and reduces the Autonomous Communities’ power to manage their education system. The new law states the Spanish Government is to decide on the curricula of the main subjects, such as History. In addition, tests will be set at the end of the schoolstages and their contents will be exclusively decided from Madrid. Since the tests will be the same for the whole of Spain, items regarding Catalan culture, geography or history will not enter into the final examinations. The Catalan Education Minister, Irene Rigau, considered the law to be “pre-democratic” and “re-centralist”. She also stated that “it is impossible to honour it in Catalonia”, since privately-owned schools teach in Catalan and the law goes against the Catalan Statute of Autonomy (Catalonia’s main law).
Politics
The Spanish Government's Delegate in Catalonia pays tribute to Hitler's soldiers
María de los Llanos de Luna, from the People’s Party (PP), gave a diploma to a brotherhood of the ‘Divisón Azul’, a division of Spanish volunteers who fought in the Nazi army during the Second World War. De Luna is the top representative of the Spanish Government in Catalonia and she is known for her Spanish nationalism and anti-Catalan identity stance. The news has outraged the rest of the Catalan political parties, who have asked for her immediate resignation. Furthermore, the 12 members of the brotherhood which received the diploma were wearing the Falange uniform, which was the only party allowed during Franco’s Fascist dictatorship. Neither the PP nor the Spanish Government have commented on the news or the resignation demands.