Catalonia aims to become a Republic
“Do you want to Catalonia became an independent state with a Republican form of government?” Precisely this question will be put to a referendum, which must pass by October 1.
The wording of the question and the date of the vote announced on Friday the head of the Autonomous region Carles Pujdeme. He said he was ready for dialogue with Madrid, but the fact that the referendum will be held, is not discussed.
“The government 18 times denied Catalans the right to determine their own future, it violated basic democratic rights,” protested Mr. Pujdeme. His speech he was done shouting, “long live Catalonia!”.
We will remind that the previous attempt to hold a referendum were undertaken by the Catalans 9 November 2014. However, the vote was blocked by the Constitutional court of Spain. In the end, Barcelona decided to change the format of voting, calling it a straw poll. Question and the date of voting remained the same, but the entire organization, according to the authorities of Catalonia, took on not having them volunteers. As a result, nearly 81% of survey participants voted for independence. However, it is worth considering that the turnout was 37%.
This time, according to Spanish media, the Catalan authorities are ready harder to defend their position, in particular, they may unilaterally declare independence if all the negotiations with Madrid will fail.
Previously, the newspaper El Pais: Barcelona have developed a draft law on the “legal transition”, which will have to replace the Spanish Constitution. The transition period during which the creation of a new “parliamentary Republic Catalonia” should take two months. In caught in the disposal of journalists of the written document, which the Spanish laws remain in force, what will be the fate of state property Spain of how to change the status of officials and so on.
It’s noted that after independence, Catalonia should remain an EU member. Then the Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy declared “unacceptable blackmail, what Spain I have not seen,” and the attempt of the authorities of Catalonia to “eliminate more than 500 years of national sovereignty”.
According to the may polling company Metroscopia commissioned by El Pais, 61% of Catalans oppose the unilateral Declaration of independence if Madrid did not allow a referendum. Only 34% of respondents believe that independence is near (in 2014 the figure was 43%). The last regional elections in Catalonia of the party campaigning for independence, scored a total of 47.8% of the votes.
Paul Tarasenko