Catalonia to speed up with Pre-referendum discussions

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Apr 2023 23:20

The conclusions drawn from all these discussions will be included in the report which is expected to be ready by 2024 to back Aragones' request for a referendum.

Catalon president Pere Aragones (Reuters)

The so-called Clarity Agreement, which will be crucial in settling the political dispute of the Catalan independence movement, is currently being drafted, according to Catalonia's president of government Pere Aragones.

"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 are beginning to put in motion," Aragones said during a press conference.

Several steps are covered by the agreement, according to Aragones. First, the Catalan administration will ask a panel of academics to compile a preliminary report in response to a series of inquiries regarding potential methods for resolving the issue between Catalonia and the Spanish government. There will also be a series of discussions among Spanish political groups following the May 28 municipal elections. Also, different discussions between Catalan residents will occur in the autumn of 2023.

The conclusions drawn from all these discussions will be included in the report which is expected to be ready by 2024 to back Aragones' request for a referendum.

Back in 2021, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the Socialists (whose party he is a secretary general of) would "never" accept a referendum for self-determination in Catalonia.

In this context, Sanchez explained that to organize a referendum for self-determination, "those who defend it must persuade three-fifths of the votes of this chamber[house of representatives], to amend Article 2 of the Spanish Constitution" and that "the Spanish men and women should ratify this amendment through a referendum."

Back in January, thousands of workers participated in a five-day strike in Catalonia to demand more resources for the public sector. Teachers, taxi drivers, and healthcare workers stopped working to protest in front of the regional parliament in Barcelona.

Barcelona police estimated that only 6,500 teachers and healthcare workers participated in one strike. After a series of fruitless negotiations with Education Minister Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray, the unions Ustec, CCOO, and UGT decided to go ahead with the strike.

Ustec called on the regional government to invest 6% of Catalonia's GDP in public education, as mandated by the Catalan Education Law. They also want educational professionals' working conditions to be improved.