Of the five options for a referendum that the committee of experts has proposed as part of a clarity agreement, Pere Aragonès is left with only one: the one that proposes a vote only in Catalonia in an agreed manner. The fact that the political conflict can be resolved by calling for a vote of all the citizens of the State does not even occur to him. Nor the fifth option, which would involve a combination of a simultaneous referendum in Catalonia and another in the rest of Spain. And with that already decided, the president will convene a table of Catalan parties to address an agreed referendum.
The possibility included in the report embraced by the head of the Catalan Government is verbatim as follows: “This kind of proposal would consist, for example, of consulting the citizens of Catalonia on the desirability of the Parliament of Catalonia starting a process of constitutional reform which could foresee independence and/or a new accommodation to the State”.
But Aragonès saves these “constitutional reform processes” by clinging to a footnote on this very point, in which the model chosen for Scotland in 2014 is used as an example, with a concise question and a binary answer.
Aragonès wanted to establish his idea and affirmed that his bet “is very clear: a referendum on the independence of Catalonia in Catalonia, and that the citizens pronounce themselves with a yes or a no”. And if the result is favorable to secession, “it will have to be implemented”, corroborated the president, through the interlocution of governments and parliamentary chambers. “The other options are not the options of the Catalan Government”, he ruled. So in view of a hypothetical resumption of the dialogue table, he would attend with his proposal under his arm.
The president of the Generalitat took the decision in a collegial manner with the councillors, who met in an extraordinary Executive Council yesterday morning. After the appointment, he appeared in the Gothic gallery of the Palau de la Generalitat.
The modality chosen by Aragonès could even be complementary to another of the options that the experts predicted so that only Catalan citizens would vote. This second proposal would be a “ratification referendum”: negotiations are carried out, all the terms and what should happen days after the vote are agreed, and the referendum is called. This ratification consultation, according to the academic council, would almost certainly end up taking place in the first of the modalities. However, the president did not accept it.
Marta Vilalta, assistant general secretary and ERC spokesperson, did refer to it. He admitted that it could be the case that the option chosen by the president leads to ratification, without clarifying, however, whether this would require, for example, a second referendum or simply a parliamentary agreement.
Now, Aragonès’ intention is to take his option to the Institute of Self-Government Studies so that it can specify the legal paths that can give validity to a referendum. Once Pedro Sánchez’s investiture debate is over, whatever the result, he will convene a table of Catalan parties to explain his proposal as president. In any case, the clarity agreement that the Catalan Government is trying to forge will not condition the investiture of the PSOE leader.
Marc Sanjaume, president of the academic council that signs the report, recommended the participation of an international mediator, although he did not consider it “indispensable”, despite the fact that it is “an upward trend”. In addition, he agreed to a certain extent with the opinion of the head of the Catalan Government since he stated that any possibility of it passing through a vote in the State as a whole “would potentially further block the conflict” and that it would not resolve it. “It would be a tyranny of the state majority”, he concluded. Likewise, he considered that the role of the Constitutional Court is fundamental and should exercise more of an “arbitrator” function than blocking, as has happened until today. Experts are confident of a change in TC’s position.
Sanjaume spoke like this in a press conference at ten in the morning, three hours before the president appeared, with whom he met with eight other members of the council of experts.
In this table of Catalan parties it will be extremely important to have the participation of the PSC. In fact, Salvador Illa has made a point of demanding its formation, although to deal with day-to-day management issues, and not to study any possibility of self-determination.
The socialists refuse to talk about a referendum in this future table of Catalan parties and, moreover, to call it ad hoc. They demand that the president convene it “without prejudice and with the aim that all the political formations represented in Parliament can make the contributions they think are appropriate”.
The participation of Junts is also in doubt. In fact, Junts sources say that they currently have no intention of presenting themselves at the dialogue table. The post-convergents, who in the negotiations for the investiture have left aside the demand to advance in a referendum, remember that the Parliament of Catalonia rejected the clarity agreement in September of last year.
For now, the only support for Aragonès’ proposal is that of En Comú Podem.
