ERC, JxCat and CUP pledge to continue debating self-determination in Parliament

In the midst of negotiations to invest the next president, the three pro-independence groups in the Parliament have wanted to express their support for the Parliamentary Bureau after the Attorney General's Office filed a complaint for disobedience. In a joint press conference in the Catalan chamber, in which they have not wanted to answer any questions about the talks to form a new government, ERC, JxCat and the CUP have presented a resolution in which they commit to continue debating on self-determination and the reprobation of the monarchy if deputies in the next legislature want it. "Parliament notes that it has approved dozens of political resolutions on the right to self-determination since 1989 and is committed to continue doing so if this is the will of the deputies of the chamber," says the motion signed by Anna Caula (ERC), Gemma Geis (JxCat) and Maria Sirvent (CUP).

In the text, the groups reject the judicialisation of Catalan politics and the "general cause against independence", in addition to expressing solidarity with the Speaker, Roger Torrent, the vice Speaker, Josep Costa, and Bureau members Eusebi Campdepadrós and Adriana Delgado. In their view, the "interference of the Constitutional Court" in Parliament seeks to "limit" democratic debate and injure "sovereignty", as well as attack the rights of deputies when it comes to undertaking legislative initiatives.

This resolution cannot be approved before the constitution of the new Parliament - on March 12 at the latest - and will be recovered in the next legislature. Even so, the groups have presented it and registered it now as a symbolic gesture in response to the Public Prosecutor's Office lawsuit.

This will make it one of the first resolutions that the new Parliamentary Bureau, which will not have received a prior warning by the Constitutional Court, will have to deal with. Pro-independence groups have assured that they will continue to present texts that have to do with self-determination or the monarchy - which have led to the lawsuit against the current bureau - as they see it as part of defending the "sovereignty" of Parliament.

In the text, moreover, fragments of the resolutions challenged by the TC and that are the basis of the Prosecutor's Office's complaint are brought back, word by word. However, it has been done indirectly. "We show our deep concern about the fact that the Prosecutor's Office has considered the following expressions to be actionable: 'Therefore reiterates and will reiterate as many times as the deputies want the reprobation of the monarchy, the defense of the right to self-determination and the claim of the sovereignty of the people of Catalonia (...). The Parliament expresses its will to concretely exercise self-determination'," the text stresses.

Absence of En Comú

The resolution has only been signed by pro-independence groups, despite the fact that, according to CUP deputy Maria Sirvent, an attempt has been made to ensure that En Comú also took part in the joint act. "We have tried," she said during the press conference, without going into detail on the obstacles that have prevented reaching an agreement. In any case, ERC sources claim that off the record En Comú has expressed their agreement on the content of the proposal to denounce the situation of the Bureau and the juridification of politics, but that the context - during negotiations to form a government - does not help. In their opinion, if it ends up being taken to plenary in the next legislature, they might end up supporting the initiative.