judicialisation of politics

“The Spanish Government is maintaining its judicial offensive against the Catalan Government and no one is sitting at the table but the Government of Catalonia”, reported the Catalan Government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, this Tuesday. The statement comes after Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) notified the president of the Parliament, Carme Forcadell, that she will have to testify on the 16^th of December for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put in vote on the 27^th of July. Forcadell's case and the prosecution of the organisers of the 9-N symbolic vote held in 2014 are not an exception, but rather an example of the monopolisation of the Catalan question in the complaints issued by the Spanish Government to the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). According to the data offered by Munté, the TC has 18 pending appeals issued by the Spanish executive against Catalan laws and 27 more issued by the Catalan Government for conflicts of competences.

Many representatives from the Catalan Government attended on Sunday the demonstration in Barcelona to defend the Catalan institutions from Spain’s legal attacks. “The rally empowers the institutions to continue the process towards independence”, Catalan Government Spokeswoman Neus Munté stated. The politician referred to the demonstration as “the best contrast between the decay of a political system, the Spanish one, which persecutes democracy, and one nation and the Catalan institutions that stand up for it and which will continue to do so”. “Any true democrat should feel challenged by what is happening”, she added. Several Catalan Government representatives are facing court cases sought by the Spanish Government for having staged the 9-N vote in 2014.  Those politicians summonsed include Catalonia's former President, Artur Mas, the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and former Catalan Ministers, Joana Ortega, Francesc Homs and Irene Rigau. All of them attended the protest. 

About 80,000 people gathered together on Sunday to demonstrate against Spain’s use of the courts to stop Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations and the summonsing of several elected representatives. The rally, organised by civil society associations Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) took place on Barcelona’s Maria Cristina Avenue, which was soon overflowing with people. Under the motto “Let’s support our democratic institutions” demonstrators showed their solidarity with the elected representatives who have been prosecuted by Spain’s justice for complying with the electoral mandate that emerged from the 27-S elections, which led to a majority of 72 pro-independence MPs in the 135-seat Parliament. “Our cause is democracy and we will never let our elected representatives down”, stated Òmnium Cultural’s President, Jordi Cuixart.

The main pro-independence associations in Catalonia, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) have organised a rally this Sunday the 13^th of November to protest against the judicialisation of politics. “It is time to say we’ve had enough” ANC’s President, Jordi Sánchez, stated earlier this week. According to the organisers, the civil society has repeatedly “shown its strength” through massive pro-independence rallies and now it is time to do it again. One of the most talked-about examples of Spain’s use of the court in order to stop Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations and the peoples’ right to vote was the summonsing in October last year of former Catalan Artur Mas and former Catalan Ministers, Joana Ortega, Francesc Homs and Irene Rigau for co-organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. However, there are more than 400 towns and villages which have cases pending with the Spanish State for different political reasons.

The Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, expressed this Friday the Catalan Executive’s disapproval of the arrest of the Mayor of Berga, Montse Venturós, for refusing to take down a pro-independence flag from the town hall building. Munté considered it not only “outrageous” but “an aberration both from a political and democratic perspective”. However, the case showed the different in criteria between the Catalan and Spanish institutions. While Munté lamented Spain’s “prosecution” of elected representatives and the “judicialisation of politics”, the Spanish Executive assessed the arrest as “only normal”. In his first appearance as Spanish Government spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo warned that “whoever fails to adhere to the rules has to accept the consequences”. 

“It is unbelievable that being democratic in Spain is nowadays a risky sport”, stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont this Tuesday during an official trip to Paris. After meeting the leader of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), Jean Christophe Lagarde, Puigdemont lamented “Spain’s democratic weakness” but admitted that it “is not surprising”. In the same vein, Puigdemont gave an address on Monday at the centre of political studies of Sciences Po in Paris and denounced the “judicial persecution” that the Catalan politicians who defend the independence process must face. “The legal framework must be at the service of democracy and not the other way around”, he said and lamented the recent demands from the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) to file a complaint against Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote.