PSC breaks ranks with C’s and PP on breakaway declaration, doesn’t ask TC for cautionary suspension of Parliament’s plenary session

After the failure of their first attempt to block the plenary session on the break with Spain, with the Executive Committee of Parliament giving the go ahead for the plenary session, the unionist parties have resorted to their second option. The parliamentary leaders of Ciudadanos, the PSC, and the PP--Inés Arrimadas, Miquel Iceta, and Xavier García Albiol-- filed an appeal with the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC, in Spanish) on Wednesday to block the declaration intended to initiate the split from Spain. In fact, they submitted three separate appeals, each with its own legal grounds. The one that is most different is the PSC’s, which --in contrast with Ciudadanos and the PP-- does not call for the cautionary suspension of the plenary session. "We don’t want the first resolution to be negative", argued Iceta, as the high court has never before suspended a debate before being held.

All three parties also agreed to ask the court to take a position on the validity of Tuesday’s meeting of party spokespersons. Despite sharing this rejection of the breakaway declaration and calling for the suspension of the spokespersons’ meeting, Catalonia Sí que es Pot (Yes we Can) said it would not appeal to the TC.

The TC has included these appeals in their agenda for Thursday. It will immediately decide whether to agree to hear the appeals and ask for the cautionary suspension of the plenary session, according to sources within the high court.

A symbolic image

Arrimadas, Iceta, and Albiol arrived at the TC separately and without making any statements. They came out, however, arm in arm and had a photo taken together while holding up the appeals filed with the high court. "I hope that this will be the first of many decisions together", said the leader of Ciudadanos in Catalonia, and she stressed that this is the most "important" thing, whatever the TC decides.

Albiol argued for the viability of the appeal, which he sees as a step to stop "an unacceptable process of tyranny". "It is a symbolic action that will go down in history. For the first time, three pro-constitution parties have set aside their differences", he added.

Iceta clung more to pointing out the differences between the PP and PSC’s appeals, even though he had no problem having a photo taken with them. The socialists are counting on the TC condemning the actions of the Executive Committee of the Parliament, although they do not want the suspension of the full session of Parliament. "We’re not afraid of the debate", he said to this newspaper.

Rajoy will strike down the declaration "the next morning"

The process that the PSC will follow now is for the TC --which meets tomorrow and the day after-- to agree to hear the appeals, but not ask for a cautionary suspension. Then, the plenary session on the break with Spain will be held on Monday morning, the motion from Junts pel Sí and the CUP will be passed, and "the day after or within two days" the president of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, will ask the high court to suspend the declaration. He explained this during an appearance in a forum organized by the "El Mundo" newspaper in Madrid, in which he promised to maintain "political dialogue" with the "main" Spanish parties. Just as he did earlier this week and last week.

Is the socialists’ appeal, then, merely symbolic? Iceta argued that it isn’t, because within a month or two, the TC could end up ruling that the Parliamentary Executive Committee acted incorrectly and could make decisions accordingly.

Are there precedents?

The high court has rejected appeals of this nature in similar cases. Legal sources consulted by ARA noted that in 2005, when the Spanish parliament decided to agree to proceed with the reform of the Catalan Statute promoted by the Catalan parliament, the PP filed an appeal with the TC attempting to block it. The high court rejected the request. There was also a similar case in the Basque Country. The Spanish government filed an appeal of unconstitutionality in 2004 against a proposed new political Statute for the Basque Country --known as the Ibarretxe Plan--, that the Basque Executive Committee had agreed to proceed with. Despite the fact that Madrid took it to the TC and requested the suspension of the bill, the Constitutional Court also refused to hear the appeal.