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Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont
suspends declaration of independence |
The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has pulled the region back
from the brink of an unprecedented showdown with the Spanish government
by announcing that he will suspend a declaration of independence to
pursue negotiations in the hope of resolving Spain’s worst political
crisis for 40 years.
Addressing the Catalan parliament on Tuesday evening, Puigdemont said
that while the recent referendum had given his government a mandate to
create an independent republic, he would not immediately declare
unilateral independence from
Spain.
“We propose the suspension of the effects of the declaration of
independence for a few weeks, to open a period of dialogue,” he said.
“If everyone acts responsibly the conflict can be resolved in a calm and agreed manner.”
Hours before the announcement, Donald Tusk, the president of the
European Council, had appealed to Puigdemont to step back from a
unilateral declaration of independence and begin dialogue with the
Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.
Rajoy has shown himself willing to take the drastic step of invoking
article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which allows the central
government to take control of an autonomous region if it “does not
fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other
laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general
interest of Spain”.
The
Spanish prime minister has repeatedly pointed out that the referendum
and the laws underpinning it are a violation of the Spanish
constitution, which is based “on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish
nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards”.
His government insists the Catalan question is an internal Spanish
matter, and has promised to use all the legal and constitutional means
at its disposal to try to stop the regional government’s manoeuvres. It
has also deployed thousands of Guardia Civil and national police
officers to
Catalonia.
Note EU-Digest: Some background on Catalonia and their quest for independence:
Catalonia has a total population of 7.5 million people.
On the October 1, polling results, reported by the Catalan government, from the illegally declared referendum by the Spanish government - it showed the "Yes" side had "won", with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of only 43.03% of the eligible voters.
Even though the referendum was held, it must be noted that based on Catalan law, the referendum should not have been held re: Catalan Statutes of Autonomy - which
states that a two third majority is required in the Catalan parliament, before any changes to
the Catalonia's Political status can be made.
There was no 2/3 majority, when the vote was held in the Catalan parliament, to approve the holding of a referendum. It was, however, decided by the ruling parties in the Catalan parliament that a simple majority vote in the Catalan parliament would be sufficient to hold the referendum
In addition, the holding of the referendum itself, was also declared illegal, based on the Statutes of the Spanish Constitution. Consequently the holding of a Catalan referendum was also suspended by the "Constitutional Court of Spain" on 7 September 2017.
Nevertheless, Mr. Carlos Puigdemont still went ahead with the referendum.
Bottom-line the Catalan government, and its President Carles Puigdemont broke every Spanish law there was to break.
Mr. Puigdemont and several of his cohorts can consider themselves very lucky not to have already been arrested and prosecuted. It could, however, still happen, if they continue to pursue this absurd nationalistic goal.
EU-Digest
