The Government announced on Tuesday the nine members of the council of academics that will pilot the Catalan proposal for a clarity agreement that could set the rules of the game for a hypothetical referendum. Yesterday these experts met with Pere Aragonès, who sent them the five basic questions, the answers to which will circumscribe the entire debate; not only that of this “committee of sages”, but also that which may develop later between citizens, entities and parties.
One by one, the questions are: 1. What characteristics should a clarity agreement with the Spanish State include to resolve the political conflict; 2. Which existing mechanisms in comparative politics would allow providing solutions to the political conflict; 3. Which political actors and institutions should take the initiative to implement these solutions; 4. What function should a referendum on the political future of Catalonia, or other similar mechanisms, have in resolving the political conflict, and 5. What characteristics should a referendum on the political future of Catalonia, or other mechanisms, fulfill analogues, to have maximum legitimacy and inclusion and to ensure validity and implementation.
Broadly speaking, the need to determine, for example, which majorities should be given for the holding of a referendum falls on the latter. The questions do not include the words independence or self-determination , and are open-ended enough that there are multiple answers to each. In fact, so much so that he also asks about “analogous mechanisms”: in Catalonia a non-binding consultation was held on 9-N, a plebiscite election and the unilateral referendum on 1-O. And on the fourth question there has the task of marking what purpose a referendum should have.
Before this meeting, the Government and Junts again clashed over the clarity agreement. The Councilor of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà , reminded the Parliament’s Junts spokesperson, Mònica Sales, that the post-convergence MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni ComÃn and Clara Ponsatà are founding members of a group in the European Parliament, called the Caucus, which promotes a clarity law in the EU for territories such as Catalonia. JxCat denied the claim and accused Vilagrà of lying.
