Barcelona (EFE) citizens, have a Catalan referendum proposal and take it before the State.
The usual weekly press conference after the meeting of the Catalan Executive Council has been led this Tuesday in an extraordinary way by the President of the Generalitat, who has outlined the roadmap of his clarity agreement, following the Canadian path with Quebec, to agree on the minimum conditions to hold a possible self-determination consultation in Catalonia.
“The conflict with the State has been blocked for too long and we will only be able to move forward if we identify new proposals. Hence the Catalan proposal for a clarity agreement that we began to deploy”, Aragonès pointed out.
The leader recalled that the Government has had to focus its efforts in recent years on transcendental issues such as the pandemic, the increase in the cost of living caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine or, recently, the drought that plagues Catalonia, but This “should not make us forget the political conflict that is yet to be resolved, aggravated by the existing repression.”
That is why his intention is that this 2023 “be the year of the clarity agreement”, with which he intends to join forces in Catalonia through a great agreement with political, social, economic, union and cultural agents that will serve to set the specific conditions of that referendum, before agreeing on it with the State.
A “circular process” in several phases
Aragonès and his team have thus designed a roadmap with various phases, but within a “circular” process, which means that it will be the Government that will initiate and culminate it.
The first step will be in the coming days, when the Government will formulate a battery of questions (half a dozen) on “what are the various democratic mechanisms for resolving the conflict”, which will be transferred to a group of academics and experts, who will issue a first report public about it this April.
After the municipal elections in May, the political debates (in the framework of the party table), sectoral (with civil society entities) and citizens (eight debates in autumn with different representative focus groups of citizens) will then begin.
And all this will be included in a final report from the academic council that, according to Government sources, is expected to be ready at the beginning of 2024 and that will help the president of the Generalitat to present the Catalan proposal for an independence referendum to the State Government. , with the aim of being able to agree on said consultation.
“My will is that the final proposal is the proposal that Catalonia puts on the negotiation table with the State Government. Not only a proposal from me or from the Government, but from the country, ”he pointed out, making it clear that he will maintain that proposal“ whoever the tenant in Moncloa is ”, even if it is a government of the PP and Vox.
Precisely the appearance of Aragonès today coincided with the presence of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in Catalonia, in a visit to the facilities of the biotechnological pharmaceutical Hipra in Amer (Girona) in which he did not accept questions.
A table of Catalan parties after 28M, except Vox
But most of the questions to the president have been addressed to that party table, since until now only the common ones have shown a predisposition towards the path of the clarity agreement, while the PSC, JxCat or CUP have already shown their opposition or reluctance towards a that proposal, in addition to the rejection of PP, CS or Vox.
Aragonès has explained that he will not convene that table until after the May 28 elections so as not to interfere in the campaign and has specified that he will convene “all parties, except the extreme right of Vox” to that space.
“If we want to talk about resolutions and overcome reproaches, everyone will have to come with a constructive spirit. In that space I will bring my proposal. If someone wants to put their alternative, we will listen to it ”, she has urged the other parties.
The Republican leader has been “convinced” that he will be able to “build a majority” in favor of the agreed referendum; and in a direct appeal to JxCat and CUP, he has asked himself: “Which independentista can be against a referendum on the independence of Catalonia?”