CATALONIA and Spain are squaring up for their first full confrontation of their respective new governments after Madrid said it would take legal action over a Catalan resolution that sought to ratify the “procés” that led to last October’s independence referendum.
The Catalan parliament on Thursday approved a resolution that sanctioned the measures which led to the poll – a move that the constitutional court previously outlawed – and confirmed its commitment to a Catalan state.
Spanish government spokesperson Isabel Celaá said prime minister Pedro Sánchez had already referred it to the state council, adding: “It is done in defence of the spanish constitution and the statute of autonomy.
“The Spanish government has and maintains the determination to travel a political path with Catalonia that in no case will it pass through a right of self-determination that does not exist, and it is not contemplated in our Magna Carta.”
The stand-off came as Catalan president Quim Torra prepared to meet Sánchez on Monday, but Celaá said she had high hopes for the meeting.
“There will be a busy agenda with a lot of interest, an agenda of such important issues, such as reducing the conflicts [in the Constitutional Court], investments, transfers, which are already contemplated in the statute of Catalonia,” she said.
“The political route is … the path that the government follows.
“We bring strength and enthusiasm to that meeting. We want to open political paths of interest for all citizens and we hope that the Catalan political forces will also travel in this way.”
However, Celaá warned that self-determination was a red line that Spain would not cross: “The right to self-determination is not contemplated in the Magna Carta, nor in any Magna Carta of the world, it has no route.”
She said the central government had not ruled out subsequent meetings.
She added: “But in this there must be political matters, issues that matter to the majority of citizens, prime minister Sanchez will listen and then analyse and act.”
Her stance was echoed by Catalan Socialist Party leader Miquel Iceta, who said in a radio interview: “There will be no agreement on a referendum on self-determination.
Elsa Artadi, the Catalan minister for the presidency, said her government had already confirmed that its political objective was independence and “nobody should be surprised” by it.
She added: “There will not be much difference between the governments of Sánchez and Rajoy If your intention is to bring to the TC any political debate that is made in parliament.”
Meanwhile, the independence movement is anticipating another huge demonstration on September 11 for La Diada – Catalonia’s National Day. Organisers want to attract as many people on to Avinguda Diagonal, one of Barcelona’s widest and longest roads, which has a capacity of more than a million people.
The motto for the day will be “Let’s make the Catalan Republic”, to confirm then mandate of the October independence referendum.
Elisenda Romeu, one of the organisers, told journalists in Barcelona: “We want to make clear that the strength of the people will lead us to overcome the obstacles that are before us and that together we can knock down the walls that oppress us.”
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