The National Call for the Republic, promoted by Carles Puigdemont, plans to organise its constituent congress on 6th December in Barcelona, although that's not yet completely confirmed. 6th December is celebrated in Spain as Constitution Day, this year being the 40th anniversary of the document. Before that, on 27th October, a foundational convention will be held in Manresa, a town an hour inland from Barcelona. That will fall on the first anniversary of the proclamation of the republic by the Catalan Parliament.
Antoni Morral, Gemma Geis and Ferran Mascarell at today's press conference / Photo: Sergi Alcàzar
The foundational convention will be held in Manresa' Nou Congost pavillion, close to Lledoners prison. It will involve the presentation of the Call's political plan and organisation, the first to be drafted by former ANC president and president of JxCat, Jordi Sànchez, and the second by JxCat deputy Gemma Geis.
The Call held a press conference this Thursday lunchtime to give more details about the project and the calendar of actions they plan to carry out. The presentation was given by the platform's spokespeople, Geis, Ferran Mascarell and Toni Morral. At the head of the platform are Puigdemont, his successor as Catalan president, Quim Torra, and Jordi Sànchez. The six form the heart of the initiative.
Founders
The spokespeople explained that they've today opened a campaign for sign-ups under the slogan Fes-te fundador de la Crida (Become a founder of the call) with its website at cridanacional.cat. Those who sign up as founders have to make a minimum donation of 10 euros (£9; $12) and then will be able to take part in the debate and vote on its foundational documents.
The Call, which had already hit 50,000 sign-ups, has today presented its advert for the campaign to find founders.
"We'll start a journey to constitute a new political party for the country. Unprecedented, exceptional, innovative and ambitious", said Morral, who insisted that their main objective is to realise the mandate of last year's independence referendum. As such, once the republic is attained, the organisation will dissolve itself.
According to Mascarell, "it will be a party with the wish to carry out political action as efficiently as possible".
Overcoming partisan conflicts
For the moment, according to an initial document explaining the motivation for setting up the Call which El Nacional has seen, it's "an instrument" to help define the strategies for political intervention of the pro-independence republican movement, between "people of different ideologies".
The objective is to achieve the implementation of the Catalan republic, for which it commits to opposing a return to "the old ways of the autonomous communities".
This document describes the Call as "a joining of efforts to overcome the partisan conflicts which have prevented true pro-independence unity", refering to the differences between the pro-independence parties, in contract to the public unity, "which fills squares and streets".
Looking towards next year's local elections, the Call commits to promoting "united and plural" candidacies whenever possible or supporting those who follow these principles. Their objective is for pro-independence candidates to win the maximum number of city halls possible, including Barcelona.