A precedent for the Games: 40 consultations have gone ahead

BarcelonaThe poorly disguised objective of the law of non-referendary consultations was to protect the 2014 vote on independence. And that was precisely the reason why the State went on the defensive, challenging the law and getting it curtailed by the Constitutional Court in order to avoid covert referendums. The heart of the matter is that the Spanish government is the only authority legally competent to call referendums. And the way to avoid a consultation is simple: if the electoral roll is consulted, any challenge can get it annulled. This is one of the dangers of the referendum on whether to host the Winter Olympic Games. The point is that dozens of consultations have been since 2014 using the census, precisely because no one has challenged them.

Consulting the census is the most obvious reason for the consultation to be annulled. There would be no problem, and this is how Fernando Pindado, an expert in public policy and citizen participation, describes it, if it is consulted for a certain group, such as health personnel. But, despite the limits, dozens of consultations have been held in Catalonia since 2014. And in most cases there were problems. In 2014 Pindado was manager of the City Council of Premià de Mar, with Miquel Buch as mayor. A month after the law was passed, they organized a consultation on the acquisition of an estate, which went ahead without any setbacks. The same is true of another forty consultations, the Catalan government explains.

How can this be? The experts' answer is always the same: "Because nobody challenged them". In fact, a person who provided legal advice to the executive states that there are thousands of regulations outside the law, but as long as no one challenges them.... And here comes a key factor: the more media attention the consultation attracts, the more likely it is to be challenged. Of those that the Govern has counted, only two were challenged by the Delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia: one in Tona in 2017 on the town's flag and one in Sitges in 2018 on the segregation of a part of the town. "It was a very innocent consultation," says the then mayor of Tona, Josep Salom. Allegations were filed, and while the litigation evolved, they decided to hold the consultation anyway, despite the precautionary measures. The case was not resolved until 2019, when a court declared it null and void. The new flag had been flying for years. Sitges, however, decided against holding the consultation. There is at least a third one that does not appear in the Generalitat's registry, but which was also challenged: in Tossa de Mar on the construction of a bridge.

The two most emblematic consultations, which were held shortly after 9-N, were not challenged: they created the counties of Moianès and Lluçanès. No one raised any objections. "Not even the Spanish government via the Delegation. Everything went smoothly," says the mayor of Moià, Dionís Guiteras (ERC). He also recalls that the result was not binding, and the night of the vote, even if the result was clear, it was not guaranteed it would be carried out and everything was in the hands of the Catalan Government. Guiteras, on the day of the vote –80% of the votes were favourable to creating the new counties– asked the executive not to back down: "I said: the people have done their homework, now let the Government do its part". The county of Moianès ended up being created. That of Lluçanès did not.

Control commission

Every consultation has to be endorsed by a commission that depends on the Catalan Government and is elected by Parliament. Members of the organ note the arbitrariness of the State when contesting: between the one in Tona and the one in Sitges, two more were carried out normally. Not even one in Santa Coloma de Farners on the space that would be renamed 1-O, in honour of the 2017 Independence Referendum, was challenged. This commission is formed by seven jurists or political scientists chosen by parliamentary groups. The position is not paid. At the beginning, being part of this commission was risky, since it entailed being responsible for the 2014 vote. For the first meeting, sources explain, the Catalan Government sent members a note in code in order to meet in Barcelona. One member did not understand the code and when the meeting started he was having a shower more than 100 km away. The commission still exists. The week before Pau Juvillà (CUP) lost his seat, his advisor, Maria Sirvent, was proposed by the CUP to be part of the commission. It will be her and six other people who will evaluate the consultation on whether to host the Winter Olympics.

Bell ringing

Almost all the consultations have been organised by city councils, with topics ranging from eliminating correbous in Vidreres, changing the town's name in Sant Carles de la Ràpita or even whether church bells should ring at night. This one took place in Xerta in 2016. The mayor, Roger Aviñó, explains that after a complaint from a hotel they stopped ringing at night, but the neighbours did not take it well and a consultation was held. Doing so was "easy". They were "inspired" by the 9-N and had several questions: first, whether bells should ring, and, if so, whether it should be every hour or every quarter of an hour. Bell ringing every quarter of an hour was backed by 74% of residents. They still ring, even though the hotel has complained again.

The only consultations that have been carried out in wider areas are the ones to create Moianès and Lluçanès counties. One of the problems pointed out by the report of Olympic Games vote is the difficulty of deciding on the census of a supramunicipal consultation. It warns of the risk of being challenged by someone who may feel discriminated against because they cannot vote. In the case of the Games, areas that have been left out, such as Ripollès, Berguedà and Solsonès, have already shown discomfort. In fact, on Wednesday the three counties' leaders are meeting in Berguedà to coordinate. At the same time, ERC maintains a dialogue with its county councils. There have already been meetings, some of them with Anna Caula, secretary for Sport, and Raül Romeva. The big question is how these areas will participate, and a suggestion has been made that people express their opinion through local ERC associations.

After the report, the meetings between Presidency, Vice-presidency and Foreign Affairs have also begun to find a way out of the consultation. The Catalan minister who is responsible for this area, Victòria Alsina, admitted to Catalunya Ràdio that the current framework is "very complicated". For that reason, she announced that in 2022 they will start working on a new consultation law, even though it will not arrive in time for the Games. Creating its own framework has already been tried without luck by the Barcelona City Council to make the so-called multiconsultations in 2017. One was on the taking over water utilities, and the company currently providing the service challenged it. "A different consultation would not have ended up in court," Gala Pin criticises, then councilor for Participation. Now, taking the ruling into account, a new regulation is being drawn up. The conclusion of all is that much of the viability of the consultation on the Games will depend on whether someone challenges it.