The Government warns ERC and Junts that it will act against “divisive” initiatives on independence or the referendum

The future of Catalonia does not involve independence or unilateral actions such as a self-determination referendum.

The amnesty law, which still has two months left to process and has caused severe wear and tear on the Government, is the end point of the

process

and not the prelude to the reissue of the secessionist challenge to the State.

Pedro Sánchez's Executive started from this premise to resolve the territorial crisis in Catalonia along with a determined commitment to self-government and the improvement of public services, to which the Generalitat did not pay due attention by prioritizing independence above all. in the peak years of the sovereignty challenge.

The calls for coexistence and dialogue have been constant from the Government since before it approved the pardons for the imprisoned leaders of the

process

and the modifications to the Penal Code for the crimes of sedition and embezzlement.

The last stop of that strategy is the grace measure, but the call for elections on May 12 has opened a new scenario in which ERC and Junts have unleashed their struggle for hegemony in the independence movement.

In this context, in which both formations have dusted off speeches from yesteryear, the Government's appeal to the Constitutional Court, approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers with the favorable opinion of the Council of State, for the admission of a popular legislative initiative is understood. to unilaterally declare independence, which the Parliament table processed on February 20.

In this way, Moncloa sends a clear message six weeks before key elections for the stability of the country: the Government will stop initiatives that violate the Constitution.

And the self-determination referendum also falls into this section.

“We have approved in the Council of Ministers the challenge of the agreement of the Board of the Parliament of Catalonia to process a bill that was a popular legislative initiative for the declaration of independence of Catalonia (...) It is absolutely consistent with the policy what we carry out;

What this resource protects is precisely the Constitution, which is our framework for dialogue and coexistence.

It protects the institutions of Catalonia, the Statute of Catalonia itself and its self-government, which are regulated in norms that this bill would also tear down.

And it protects the dialogue, the agreements, that we are able to understand each other,” said the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños.

The Government bases the reasons for unconstitutionality on two principles: non-compliance with the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in relation to the agreement being challenged;

and the unconstitutionality of the agreement adopted by the Board of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Regarding the first question, the popular legislative initiative contains a bill to declare the independence of Catalonia “which, as a whole, is characterized by a clear unconstitutionality, substantially reproducing issues already resolved by the Constitutional Court in different rulings that indicate the rupture of the constitutional order, violating the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia itself,” reasons the Executive in the reference of the Council of Ministers.

Regarding the second question, "it is consolidated doctrine" of the Constitutional Court that the admission for processing of parliamentary initiatives that fail to comply with the duty to comply with issues already resolved by the Court of Guarantees itself "is clearly unconstitutional."

The challenge is carried out, the Government continues, "to protect three essential legal assets": the Constitution, Constitutional doctrine and the Statute of Autonomy and Catalonia's own laws.

Regarding the Fundamental Law, "essential constitutional precepts are violated", such as the sovereignty of the Spanish people, the unity of Spain, and the principles of legality, legal security or territorial model.

Regarding the Constitutional doctrine, the action is taken because “it has repeatedly annulled similar initiatives.”

Another reason for filing the appeal is that the Parliament's powers would not have been respected, as its own lawyers warned.

Bolaños has also influenced the Government's rejection of holding a referendum.

Last week Marta Rovira, general secretary of Esquerra, stated that they were negotiating the consultation with the PSOE, a claim denied by the socialists.

“

We are in an electoral campaign in Catalonia and we are going to hear many things, some that are not true, like this,” Bolaños remarked, against the “old formulas, which led to collective failures and generated conflict and confrontation, which do not lead to Nowhere".

“What surprises me is that there are still those who bet on those formulas.

We are betting on large transversal majorities”, added one of the heavyweights of the Government, who disagrees with the reading that, with his appeal, the Executive contributes to the judicialization of politics.

Popular legislative initiatives do not decline when elections are called.

In this case, after acceptance for processing by the Board, it was waiting for the entire debate to be scheduled, which would take place in the first two months of the next legislature.

More information

The Government tries to stop the independence demands of its partners

The Government's decision has marked symbolism.

The PSC filed an appeal against the legislative initiative, which passed at the Parliament Table with the favorable vote of Junts and the CUP and the abstention of ERC.

The Government's recourse to the guarantee court has an automatic effect, since the latest proposal in the institutions of the independence sector that maintains the positions of unilateralism is "immediately paralyzed."

“We do not want any isolationist policy from Catalonia, what we want is for Catalonia to be part of and be the driving force of both Spain and the European Union.

This resource goes along those lines, against any processing of a law that is divisive, that fractures society, that generates tension that generates a social and political fracture, as the processing of this law would generate," warned Bolaños, who explained that the Plan Legislative Annual contemplates 198 regulations, of which 149 are royal decrees, 43 ordinary laws and 6 organic laws.

The reaction of the Catalan Government has not been long in coming.

And what is most disturbing for the Government, it shows the maximalist positions of ERC and Junts and how they feed off each other in the middle of the electoral pre-campaign.

The reaction of the Generalitat has been furious.

Its spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, has stated that the central government “has learned little or nothing from recent years” after confirming the appeal to the Constitutional Court.

“Seeking to restrict and limit parliamentary debate has never been a good option at all,” she declared after attributing the step taken by La Moncloa to “electoral interests.”

All polls assume the victory of Salvador Illa's PSC on 12-M is certain, so one of the keys to the governability of Catalonia (and, by extension, of Spain), is which of the two pro-independence parties will come second.

That is, which one will prevail among pro-independence voters.

Another fundamental unknown will be whether ERC, Junts and the CUP add up to the 68 deputies that grant the absolute majority in the Parliament.

The PP has also criticized the presentation of the appeal, although for different reasons.

Miguel Tellado, spokesperson in Congress, has called it an “alibi” and “a smokescreen.”

“If ERC asks for a referendum, Sánchez will give it to them.

The independence movement demands and Sánchez gives in.

"This is how it has always happened," he concluded, reports

Virginia Martínez.

Spanish justice, “to the limit” due to the blockade of the CGPJ

The pending renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, pending for more than five years, continues to be another of the major points of friction between the two major parties.

Bolaños has implicitly blamed the PP for the cancellation of the meeting scheduled this Wednesday in Madrid with the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders, as the arbitrator between the socialists and the popular ones.

The PP defends that the judges directly elect, without intervention of the Cortes, the 12 members of the council, made up of 20 members.

And it demands that the PSOE modify the rule “simultaneously” with the renewal of the body, while the socialists insist that the CGPJ must be urgently renewed and immediately begin a process of dialogue on the election of its members.

🔴LIVE

Press conference by the spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, together with the ministers of @justiciagob and @culturagob, Félix Bolaños and Ernest Urtasun, after the Council of Ministers.

https://t.co/MBhOaAeacd

— La Moncloa (@ desdelamoncloa) March 26, 2024

“The European Commission reported that neither the European Commission nor the PSOE Government had any objection to holding that meeting.

The only thing I am doing is reiterating what official sources from the European Commission reported yesterday about that meeting,” said the Minister of the Presidency, who represents the Government in the negotiations, in which Esteban González Pons participates for the PP.

"The situation of justice is extreme, it is harming the normal functioning of the public service, but from here I show once again our willingness to work hand in hand with the European Commission to renew the General Council of the Judiciary whenever it wishes," he said. underlined.

“Our position is the same as we previously held on this matter.

We have been totally clear.

Our willingness to agree is total, but it is evident that there are difficulties because it is very difficult to trust.

To try to have an agreement, [the reform of the law] is something essential and we are going to insist on it,” Tellado observed in an appearance in Congress.

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