TC suspends Foreign Affairs Ministry, initiates proceedings against Forcadell and Constituent Process Committee
Prosecutor and Catalan Parliament have ten days to report on creation of committee
MadridOn Tuesday Spain’s Constitutional Court (TC) did not merely accept the Spanish government’s appeal and suspend the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Catalan government. It also decided to open a new front: it initiated proceedings against the study committee for the Constituent Process.
The Spanish high court, gathered in a plenary session, gave ten days to the Prosecutor and the Catalan Parliament to report on the creation of the committee. That is, they must state their case in response to the “objection to execution" raised by the Spanish government.
With the creation of this committee the Spanish government believes that the Catalan parliament is implementing the secessionist declaration that was suspended by the TC. This means that the central government has activated the powers included in the reform of the law governing the TC —which the PP passed on its own— that would ultimately allow it to impeach public office-holders who do not comply with the court’s rulings.
The Spanish government is targeting, in this case, Carme Forcadell, the new Speaker of the Catalan Parliament.
According to the letter sent by the Moncloa to the TC, which various news agencies had access to, the Spanish government is calling on the TC to warn Forcadell and the members of the Committee on the Constituent Process that they could be committing a crime if they keep the committee active and meeting regularly. Madrid wants it to be declared "null and void and without any legal effect", and for it to "refrain from carrying out any actions directed at putting into operation or giving continuity to the tasks of the committee".
