This Tuesday is the day the Catalan independence movement lost its absolute majority in the Parliament. The disagreement between JxCat and ERC means the votes of Carles Puigdemont, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull no longer count. Adding these to Toni Comín, who didn't have a delegated vote, means they have five fewer votes than they won in the last election. This was enough for the government to lose eleven votes that they would have otherwise won. In some cases, the results were draws, meaning the motions didn't pass; in other cases, they were losses with differences of fewer than four votes.
The same result was seen several times: a 65-65 draw, the available votes from the pro-independence parties against those of the whole opposition, En Comú included. One of the most notable among these was the motion to censure king Felipe VI and call for the abolition of the Spanish monarchy.
Another motion the independence movement lost sought to ratify the provisions approved by the Parliament relating to the right to self-determination. It only got the 65 votes after CUP accepted to not explicitly mention the laws behind last year's independence referendum, as they had done in the original proposal.
Then there were still other bills: on a Catalan digital identity, on pending overtime payments for civil servants and timetable reform. The plenary session also rejected a motion for "urgent measures to confront the emergency in housing and energy poverty".
On the other hand, JxCat and ERC did manage to pass their proposal to negotiate a binding referendum with Spain, with no deadline, but only thanks to the votes in favour of En Comú. The text calls for "bilateral negotiation with the state, without conditions or renunciations".
Photo: Sergi Alcàzar
The opposition passes 27 resolutions
Not only has the independence movement lost votes as a result of the loss of its majority, but it allowed the opposition to pass a total of 27 resolutions. Today's plenary session approved seven resolutions from Ciutadans, eight from En Comú, eight from PSC and four negotiated resolutions with PSC or En Comú involvement.
Among these was one from PSC urging Quim Torra's government to "revert the harmful effects of the political situation on the economy and employment". This passed thanks to a mistake from a pro-independence deputy who didn't vote.