Representatives of 100 towns establish a coordinator for the December 13th referendums

Those present at the meeting approved a series of national objectives and ratified a technical committee

One hundred local committees organized themselves today in the plenary council into a coordinating committee for a Referendum on Independence with the intention of convoking a referendum on December 13, even though it's possible that not all of them will be able to hold one. In today's meeting, that lasted more than three hours, a series of "national objectives" were approved, and an advisory committee was ratified that will coordinate the process of preparing the referendum in 100 of these towns, sometimes with the support of the local government, and sometimes without.

In the list of towns that foresee holding a referendum on December 13 are Berga, Borges Blanques, Tàrrega, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Santa Coloma de Farners, Solsona, Vic, Vilafranca del Penedès and Vilanova i la Geltrú.

Among the objectives of the plenary council is that of holding a referendum throughout the entire Principat* in the future, as long as the earlier local referendums have been successful. Uriel Bertran, member of the coordinating committee and representative for Esquerra, declared that "when this process moves forward, we will need to appeal to the international community to recognize a binding referendum for political independence". And he continued, "The level of participation on December 13 will be crucial in showing that we are prepared to exercise our right to self-government."

During the meeting, a set of guidelines was presented, based on the referendum in Arenys, on what needs to be done to hold the referendum on December 13, by 100 local organizing committees, 40 of which were present at the meeting.

Originally published in VilaWeb on 24 October 2009 at 21:44h