The nation and sovereignty. This is the Gordian knot of a debate that was squeezed to the maximum during the years of the Estatut (2006) and that returns now around the negotiation of the investiture between the PSOE and Junts. The context has new nuances, and the ruling of the Constitutional Court always weighs, which highlighted the legal invalidity of the statutory preamble where Catalonia is referred to as a nation. The thread returns: Does redefining Catalonia as a nation mean advancing sovereignty? Is this an issue that should be in an eventual investiture pact?
Xavier Arbós, professor of Constitutional Law (UB), indicates that this link between nation and sovereignty stems from the French Revolution, which proclaimed the principles of national sovereignty. A perspective, that of a sovereign nation, that permeates much of the academic and political reflection in Spain and Catalonia, although there are other paths that serve as alternative examples. “I don’t think there is any problem in saying that Catalonia is a nation, just as Scotland is a nation and it should not pose any problem as a descriptive question to which is not associated the normative condition that if it is a nation it must have sovereignty.”
It would be illusory in the current Spanish context, indicates the professor, to think that the definition of a nation automatically entails sovereignty. And he remembers that within the framework of international law the right to self-determination is only contemplated in decolonization processes or if individuals are persecuted and oppressed. Another thing is the internal dialectic of a State.
For this reason, the debate on the definition of Catalonia as a nation is part of the negotiating folder on self-determination, according to Junts. We are therefore working to find a definition that has a broad enough interpretation so that it can be understood as a possible path towards the right to self-determination from an independence perspective. And, at the same time, so that from a socialist perspective it is argued that it does not imply any contradiction with article 1.2 of the Constitution, which states that “national sovereignty resides in the Spanish people.” But it is not yet clear whether this issue will ultimately be part of the investiture agreement if it is reached.
It is in this context, and in the negotiations between the PSOE and Junts, where the possibility of Catalonia being defined as a “national minority” was introduced. But according to the jurists consulted, it would be a definition that does not fit either with what Catalonia is, or with the objective pursued by pro-independence sectors.
The protection that international law offers to minorities, explains Rosa Ana Alija, professor of Public International Law (UB), consists mainly of the right not to be discriminated against, the protection of their physical existence and the development of their own identity. Regarding the right to self-determination, Alija explains that international instruments “are quite careful not to recognize it.”
Professor Arbós points out that the concept of a national minority – as a group that is protected and is not limited to a specific territory – contrasts even worse with self-government. “Autonomy means that you have the possibility of self-managing and managing your skills, and not that the state is the protector of your identity.” Although these powers are few, they will always place “Catalonia beyond what a national minority means”, and that “protective” state.
From the pro-independence environment it is indicated that the definition of national minority, although it is a legally valid term, is not a term that is politically applicable to Catalonia.
The Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was ratified by Spain in 1995. Spain does not recognize any specific minority, but in a subsequent convention it noted that Gypsies represent the only group that can be protected under the protection of this framework. Germany, citing another example, considers “Danes of German nationality and members of the Zorbo people of German nationality as national minorities.” It will also apply to the ethnic groups of Frisians, Sinti and Gypsies.”
A possible national minority applied to Catalonia would not in any case refer to a territorially based entity, indicates Professor Alija. “The minority would be the Catalan population that self-identifies as a group with its own language, traditions and culture.”
It would be necessary to navigate in the current context again towards the concept of the nation and also in the definition of the State, on the path towards plurinationality or the “nation of nations” framework. A redefinition that has legal consequences on some issues, in what the recognition of diversity means.
There is less than a month left until November 27, when the deadline for the investiture expires, and it is becoming clear that the folders that are agreed upon – if so – will need a journey for their development and interpretation. It is in this situation where for Junts the figure of mediation mechanisms, in the form of two nations, becomes more relevant.
