Originally published in Nació Digital on 17 May 2013 by Eduard Voltas
Hello? The problem is not Llanos de Luna [Spain's representative to the Catalan government]. The celebration the other day at the Guardia Civil barracks in Sant Andreu de la Barca, when the Spanish representative awarded a certificate to the "Brotherhood of Combatants of the Blue Division" [volunteers from Franco's army who went to fight with Hitler] was an official commemoration, not a private party at the representative's home. Indeed, it was a celebration with a strict protocol, a protocol that had been thoroughly vetted and which was carefully organized down to the tiniest detail, as is always done in such cases, part of which stated that at a particular moment they would proceed to the awarding of the certificate, and that among the recipients of such recognition would be the aforementioned Brotherhood. Not only that, I would dare to swear that this scene has played out hundreds of times since 1977 in barracks all over Spain. Because Francoism wasn't defeated by the Transition, it was amnestied.
The renegade military. The torturing police. The judges of the Court of Public Order. The ministers and top leaders. Not a one was punished for their participation in Franco's criminal regime. Most of them, indeed, continued their work after democracy, and many prospered out in the open (Shall we make lists? It's not really necessary, is it?) The Falange was never prohibited. The Nazi salute and praising Franco's dictatorship are not included in any penal code. The avenues of the Generalísimo and the squares of the Fallen remain unchanged in the nomenclature. And the State awards financial grants to the Francisco Franco Foundation, year after year. In these circumstances, can someone explain to me why Llanos de Luna, her head of protocol, or the commander of the barracks in Sant Andreu de la Barca should find awarding a simple certificate to the Brotherhood of Combatants of the Blue Division at all strange? What was the Blue Division? One more piece of the regime to which in 1977 we awarded full amnesty. Are those fanatic volunteers who went to fight the communists with the Nazis any worse than the judge who condemned Puig Antich to execution and who if he wasn't too old would be still sitting on the bench to this day?
Maybe this was the price that had to be paid, and that's surely what they have told us up until now. But whatever the case, the democracy we have had is a structure constructed on top of a huge, immense, dark immorality. That is the problem, not Llanos de Luna. We would do well to keep that in mind.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
19 steps to Independence, according to Catalonia's National Transition Advisory Council
Originally published in VilaWeb, 16 May 2013
The Catalan government will receive the first report from the National Transition Advisory Council at the end of July with recommendations on how and when to hold the referendum on independence, and what question or questions should be formulated. This was the announcement made today by the president of the group, Carles Viver Pi-Sunyer, as he explained the task that the council will carry out over the next few months: they will write 19 reports, most of which outline the steps that need to be taken to move toward an independent Catalan State.
The first report will deal with how and when to convoke the referendum. Pi-Sunyer left open the possibility that there might be more than one question, that is, there might be two or even three, "in the form of a tree". "We will also the guarantees that the referendum should afford and the possible results and consequences that it will have. And what the reaction from the state may be," he explained. And in addition to the judicial analysis for holding a referendum, he also made it clear that they will examine "alternate, more political routes in order to be able to hold such a referendum".
The other 18 reports will be written, mostly by the end of the year, between October and December, while the remaining ones will be finished in the first trimester of 2014. They will be reports that analyze the fundamental decisions that will have to be taken assuming that the referendum will lead to the constitution of a new state. "We will help analyze the structures necessary in the event of a favorable result on the question of creating an independent state," said Pi-Sunyer, who did not close the door to the Council analyzing federal or confederal systems.
These are the 19 reports that the Council foresees creating:
1. The convocation of the referendum
2. The relationship of the new state with the EU. Will it be a member or not? If it si not, how will it be able to become one? What will happen with the Schengen Area and European Economic Space?
3. The relationship with the international community, from the United Nations to UNESCO, as well as all the other international organizations, including an analysis of what will happen with the treaties that Spain is a signer of.
4. The future relationship with the Spanish state. "The new state should have a very close relationship with the Spanish state," said Pi-Sunyer.
5. The succession of judicial regulations. "On Day 1 in the new state, we don't want to find ourselves with holes in the judicial system," observed Pi-Sunyer.
6. How to carry out the constituent process. A constitution will be necessary. "Perhaps one idea is that there would be a provisional constitution, and not try to create a Catalan Constitution from the start, the first week," says the Council president, who thinks such a document would have to cover fundamental rights, with references to the Statute of 2005, and that important decisions would have to be incorporated therein, like the question of dual nationality, or the status of the different languages.
7. Catalonia's judicial system. Pi-Sunyer says, "How many judges will we have, and how many secretaries of justice? We must ensure that we can administer justice right away. What will we do with the cases that are in process in the Spanish judicial system? What will we do with decisions from those courts? We will need a governmental body with judicial power."
8. Report on internal and international security.
9. Sectorial administration, for example electoral administration.
10. Economic topics, like the tributary agency in the new state, tax collection, etc.
11. Definition of the Catalan Tributary Agency
12. The financial institutions, like the Central Bank, and the maintenance of the euro.
13. The agencies and regulatory organizations that we should have, some of which are required by the EU.
14. The distribution of assets and debts between the Catalan and Spanish Governments, including the public debt.
15. The effects of an independent state on the business relationship between Spain and Catalonia.
16. How the Catalan Social Security system will work.
17. How to ensure access to energy and hydraulic resources starting on Day 1 after independence.
18. How telecommunications resources will be defined and distributed.
19. The internationalization of the process.
The Catalan government will receive the first report from the National Transition Advisory Council at the end of July with recommendations on how and when to hold the referendum on independence, and what question or questions should be formulated. This was the announcement made today by the president of the group, Carles Viver Pi-Sunyer, as he explained the task that the council will carry out over the next few months: they will write 19 reports, most of which outline the steps that need to be taken to move toward an independent Catalan State.
The first report will deal with how and when to convoke the referendum. Pi-Sunyer left open the possibility that there might be more than one question, that is, there might be two or even three, "in the form of a tree". "We will also the guarantees that the referendum should afford and the possible results and consequences that it will have. And what the reaction from the state may be," he explained. And in addition to the judicial analysis for holding a referendum, he also made it clear that they will examine "alternate, more political routes in order to be able to hold such a referendum".
The other 18 reports will be written, mostly by the end of the year, between October and December, while the remaining ones will be finished in the first trimester of 2014. They will be reports that analyze the fundamental decisions that will have to be taken assuming that the referendum will lead to the constitution of a new state. "We will help analyze the structures necessary in the event of a favorable result on the question of creating an independent state," said Pi-Sunyer, who did not close the door to the Council analyzing federal or confederal systems.
These are the 19 reports that the Council foresees creating:
1. The convocation of the referendum
2. The relationship of the new state with the EU. Will it be a member or not? If it si not, how will it be able to become one? What will happen with the Schengen Area and European Economic Space?
3. The relationship with the international community, from the United Nations to UNESCO, as well as all the other international organizations, including an analysis of what will happen with the treaties that Spain is a signer of.
4. The future relationship with the Spanish state. "The new state should have a very close relationship with the Spanish state," said Pi-Sunyer.
5. The succession of judicial regulations. "On Day 1 in the new state, we don't want to find ourselves with holes in the judicial system," observed Pi-Sunyer.
6. How to carry out the constituent process. A constitution will be necessary. "Perhaps one idea is that there would be a provisional constitution, and not try to create a Catalan Constitution from the start, the first week," says the Council president, who thinks such a document would have to cover fundamental rights, with references to the Statute of 2005, and that important decisions would have to be incorporated therein, like the question of dual nationality, or the status of the different languages.
7. Catalonia's judicial system. Pi-Sunyer says, "How many judges will we have, and how many secretaries of justice? We must ensure that we can administer justice right away. What will we do with the cases that are in process in the Spanish judicial system? What will we do with decisions from those courts? We will need a governmental body with judicial power."
8. Report on internal and international security.
9. Sectorial administration, for example electoral administration.
10. Economic topics, like the tributary agency in the new state, tax collection, etc.
11. Definition of the Catalan Tributary Agency
12. The financial institutions, like the Central Bank, and the maintenance of the euro.
13. The agencies and regulatory organizations that we should have, some of which are required by the EU.
14. The distribution of assets and debts between the Catalan and Spanish Governments, including the public debt.
15. The effects of an independent state on the business relationship between Spain and Catalonia.
16. How the Catalan Social Security system will work.
17. How to ensure access to energy and hydraulic resources starting on Day 1 after independence.
18. How telecommunications resources will be defined and distributed.
19. The internationalization of the process.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Catalan President's response to Spanish Constitutional Court ruling
Originally published on Vilaweb on May 8, 2013
“This is the path that the people have decided on. We will continue on that path while the people want Catalonia to continue on that path. While the majority of the people of Catalonia, as large a majority as is possible, wishes to continue on this path, the obligation of the institutions is to proceed accordingly, to continue on the planned path.” This is how the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, responded, shortly after hearing that the Spanish Constitutional Court had provisionally suspended the Declaration of Sovereignty approved by the Catalan Parliament last January 23.
Mas found the appeal quite unusual. “But, not only that, it's highly worrying and profoundly disappointing. A parliament is the democratic expression of a people after an election. And the people decided on majorities in line with the right to decide and national transition. The parliament has to be able to make political pronouncements. We have not approved here any law or any unilateral declaration of independence. We have approved a political declaration that is based on the popular will as it was expressed at the ballot boxes. This questions the will expressed at the ballot boxes. I hope that the Constitutional Court will have enough wisdom when resolving the appeals presented by the Catalan institutions because we are in the territory of political declarations.”
He continues, “The appeal is a product of the obsession of the Spanish government to abort the majority will of the Catalan people. One thing is the Spanish Government and another thing is the Constitutional Court. The Spanish Government wants to abort the process, but the Constitutional Court is the arbiter and we demand equal treatment. The message expressed at the ballot boxes was sovereignty and the right to decide.”
“I hope that our position will be widely shared,” he added. “We demand respect for the democratic will expressed at the ballot boxes. We have already had a very negative experience of a statute that was voted on, went through the Constitutional Court, ended up whittled down, and which provoked reactions on the street that brought about an election. And that should be taken note of. The people of Catalonia will not accept that the popular will peacefully expressed be aborted. There is no violence and no totalitarianism here, no one has been attacked.”
And he finished up with, “We must continue on our path with the principles of radical democracy, and a peaceful and constructive attitude. For us, no matter what they do, we will not stop dialoguing. We want to follow this path in an open and constructive way, basing it on dialogue.”
President Mas responds to the Constitutional Court: “The path chosen by the people will continue”
“We are now at the point we are because of the things that happened that time,” warned the President [perhaps referring to the previous Constitutional Court ruling against the Statute of Catalonia in June of 2010]
“This is the path that the people have decided on. We will continue on that path while the people want Catalonia to continue on that path. While the majority of the people of Catalonia, as large a majority as is possible, wishes to continue on this path, the obligation of the institutions is to proceed accordingly, to continue on the planned path.” This is how the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, responded, shortly after hearing that the Spanish Constitutional Court had provisionally suspended the Declaration of Sovereignty approved by the Catalan Parliament last January 23.
Mas found the appeal quite unusual. “But, not only that, it's highly worrying and profoundly disappointing. A parliament is the democratic expression of a people after an election. And the people decided on majorities in line with the right to decide and national transition. The parliament has to be able to make political pronouncements. We have not approved here any law or any unilateral declaration of independence. We have approved a political declaration that is based on the popular will as it was expressed at the ballot boxes. This questions the will expressed at the ballot boxes. I hope that the Constitutional Court will have enough wisdom when resolving the appeals presented by the Catalan institutions because we are in the territory of political declarations.”
He continues, “The appeal is a product of the obsession of the Spanish government to abort the majority will of the Catalan people. One thing is the Spanish Government and another thing is the Constitutional Court. The Spanish Government wants to abort the process, but the Constitutional Court is the arbiter and we demand equal treatment. The message expressed at the ballot boxes was sovereignty and the right to decide.”
“I hope that our position will be widely shared,” he added. “We demand respect for the democratic will expressed at the ballot boxes. We have already had a very negative experience of a statute that was voted on, went through the Constitutional Court, ended up whittled down, and which provoked reactions on the street that brought about an election. And that should be taken note of. The people of Catalonia will not accept that the popular will peacefully expressed be aborted. There is no violence and no totalitarianism here, no one has been attacked.”
And he finished up with, “We must continue on our path with the principles of radical democracy, and a peaceful and constructive attitude. For us, no matter what they do, we will not stop dialoguing. We want to follow this path in an open and constructive way, basing it on dialogue.”
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