Yesterday the Catalan Parliament passed the 2017 budget thanks to the votes of pro independence JuntsPelSí and CUP parties. This was the last obstacle, from the Catalan side at least, on the way for the referendum. This budget includes the funds for the binding referendum of independence.
The last month and a half has been very intense. Since the trial to former President Mas and in a display on previously unseen speed in the deliberations the court declared Mas and former Catalan Government Ministers Ortega, Rigau and Homs guilty of disobedience for doing what people voted them to do. To let people vote in November 2014. They were sentenced to a two year ban from public office for holding an unbinding referendum on the independence of Catalonia. A few decades ago they use to execute Catalan Presidents, by firing squad. An improvement after all.
As a consequence of this I’ve lost track already of how many MPs from different democratic parliaments have already raised their voice warning Spain (check my twitter). The UN Human Rights Commissioner in Switzerland, the EU Venice Commission several MEPs and even Canada. Just letting Spain know that this conflict should be dealt with politically, not legally. In the process, the damage done to the credibility of Spanish institutions has been irrecoverable.
Even the former President of the Spanish Constitutional Court, on the day he was leaving, said that using the judiciary to stop Catalonia’s independence is not working and that a political solution should be reached instead.
Today we woke up with the news that the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Margallo admitted yesterday night live on TV that he personally made secret deals with many countries against Catalonia.
On a colorful note, a University Professor has been fined 601 euros for daring to speak in Catalan with the Spanish Police greeting us at the Barcelona Airport. How dare he speak in the language of the country he is flying from.
Looks like the Law of Transience, which will set the Catalan legal framework for the unilateral referendum, will likely be passed in September instead of June in order to give Spain as little time as possible to react against it. The Law of Transience will be the de facto Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Part of this law, the part that enables the referendum, will become effective on the same day it is passed and the rest of it only in case the Yes wins the referendum.
The independence machinery is advancing slowly but steadily towards the unilateral referendum scheduled for September. What Madrid thought would never happen, for JuntsPelSí and CUP to agree on the 2017 budget has happened. International supports are growing and Catalan pro Independence parties have set their differences aside for a greater goal. The clock keeps ticking and people are starting to get nervous in Madrid.