Catalonia crosses the Rubicon

Catalonia has regained its sovereignty. On Wednesday the Parliament passed the Referendum Law. After a 12 hour long session were the Spanish groups endlessly filibustered instead of taking part in the political debate. But I’ll spare you the details. The Referendum Law was passed with 72 yes, 11 Abstentions and 0 No votes (the unionists left the room). Shortly afterwards President Puigdemont signed the Law making it come into effect and later issued the decree for the Referendum to be held on October 1st.

Throught thursday 16 thousand people have requested to be electoral agents and 560 Mayors out of the +940 municipalities in Catalonia have already confirmed that their town will support the Government.

If anyone has any doubt about the binding status of the Referendum they only need to read the hysterical reactions of the Spanish media.

The Spanish prosecutor is burning all the bridges by announcing criminal lawsuits for all members of the Government and the Parliament Board.

In the meantime I received an email with the voting instructions for the referendum, since I am currently resident in Germany.

Throughout thursday another lengthy Parliament session was held. This time in order to pass the “Llei de transitorietat jurídica i fundacional de la República” which I’ll refer to as the Transition Law. This is basically a law that says that if the vote on October the 1st is won by the Yes it will come into effect and within 48h of the final results independence will be declared and the Republic of Catalonia will be born.

The Transition Law ensures a continuity between the current law and the, it establishes the birth of the Catalan judiciary and the Republic becomes the sole tax collecting entity, it also explains that the existing Spanish State civil servants can transition, if so they choose, to have their jobs transfered to the Republic.

Most importantly, the Transition Law establishes the procedure through which the writing of the new Constitution will take place. The Constitution of the Catalan Republic will be voted in referendum some time in 2018.

The Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the Referendum Law on thursday evening but since its article 3.2 states that “it has hierarchical prevalence over any other regulations that may come into conflict with it” things carried on as planned. Spanish Law can no longer conflict with Catalonia’s right to Self-determination.

The Transition Law was passed yesterday late at night following a practically identical script to the voting of the previous day.

 

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L'adreça electrònica no es publicarà. Els camps necessaris estan marcats amb *