This Friday, the Spanish cabinet has decided to start the process to go after speaker Roger Torrent and the other members of the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament who have voted over the last two weeks in favour of accepting for consideration two motions reiterating the Parliament's support of the right to self-determination and censure of the monarchy. One of the motions was drafted jointly by the three pro-independence parties; the other was submitted by CUP alone.
In the name of the government, acting deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo noted that they had all been warned of their duty to stop any initiative which could follow in the footsteps of other resolutions, previously suspended, relating to self-determination and the monarchy. They have asked the Constitutional Court to take measures "if it considers that its warnings have been undermined". The members of the Bureau who supported allowing the motions to be considered further were Torrent (ERC), Josep Costa (JxCat), Eusebi Campdepadrós (JxCat) and Adriana Delgado (ERC).
The acting Spanish government, which initially announced it wouldn't take any action unless and until the motions were approved, now say that crimes could have been committed. They ask the court, if this should be the case, to turn to public prosecutors. "We ask it to consider if this line has been crossed, if the warning it gave itself has been undermined and that it speak with the public prosecution service about the consequences there may be," Calvo said. The alleged crime they hint at would be that of disobedience.
Last week, just after voting to accept for consideration the motion JxCat, ERC and CUP had worked so hard to agree on, Torrent gave a press conference to make it clear that he would accept the potential legal consequences that could derive from the decision.