15% of adults in Catalonia are not allowed to vote on February 14
Suffrage depends on country of citizenship, not residence, with few exceptions
right to vote
Swiss MPs ask their government if they can mediate “between Madrid and Barcelona”
Swiss MPs from five different parties lamented this Tuesday that “Spain’s position seems to be doing the opposite of the international procedures expected from democratic countries” as their “constant vetoes have ended all the legal possibilities for Catalonia”.Swiss representatives from all the parties, except from the RL, which may join the proposal later, have asked their government if they can “mediate between Madrid and Barcelona”. “Considering Switzerland’s neutrality and democratic tradition, would the Federal Council propose our country’s good manners to ensure mediation between Madrid and Barcelona?” MPs asked the Swiss executive.
Members of US Congress support Catalonia’s right to vote
Republican Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Europe stated that he sees “no reason why people in Catalonia cannot have their own choice of whether they want to be part of Spain”. He made this statement during a meeting with the Catalan Government’s Secretary for Foreign and European Union Affairs, Roger Albinyana, and Head of the Foreign Action Committee of the Catalan Parliament, Jordi Solé. Rohrabacher emphasised that “it’s better to let people decide and for them to choose to remain in the country, instead of making them feel they are being forced to stay”. Earlier in the week, 31 MEPs from 14 different member states sent a letter to the Spanish Defence Minister in which they urged him to “rectify” his position on Catalonia. Regarding the Minister’s declarations, the MEPs asked him to make it clear that Spain’s army won’t interfere in a situation which they described as “pacific and democratic”.
A look back at the last three mass demonstrations on Catalonia’s National Day
Since 2012, the demonstrations on Catalonia’s National Day, on the 11th of September, have grown exponentially. Nearly two million pro-independence supporters have shown their demands regarding Catalonia’s political future at each of the different manifestations that have filled the streets of Barcelona and towns all over the territory. Two organisations, Òmnium Cultural, which is a civil society organisation promoting Catalan culture and language, and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a grassroots association demanding Catalonia's independence from Spain, have played a key role in turning these three demonstrations into massive, historic rallies.
Chairman of the European Social-Democrats: Catalonia “cannot create new conflicts” and “expect everybody to accept them within the EU”
Hannes Swoboda, Chairman of the Social-Democrat Group at the European Parliament, highlighted “the necessity to stick together, to solve the problems together in Spain”. The Austrian politician rejected what he sees as the Catalan attitude: “we are richer and we are leaving Spain”. “That is not a solution for the Spanish and European problems” he warned. In addition, he stated that Catalans “have to know” that “if they go independent without the agreement of the national government they are no longer in the European Union”. The veteran MEP asked Catalans to be “realistic” and “to fight for the improvement of living conditions and not for the destruction of what we have achieved over the last decades”.