Catalonia's alternative left En Comú Podem (Comuns) affirmed this Thursday that the electoral programme of Yolanda Díaz's Sumar, a platform of which they are part, will include a referendum on self-determination for Catalonia. This issue, however, does not yet seem to be entirely decided. Today, Díaz declined to comment on this aspect when she was asked while participating in the summer courses of the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo in the city of Santander. According to the Europa Press agency, the Sumar leader did not enter into the Comuns' position regarding the coalition's electoral programme.
The coldness and silence of Díaz contrasts with the enthusiasm displayed this very Thursday by Aina Vidal, the head of the Sumar list in Barcelona and leader of the Comuns after the departure from the front line of Jaume Asens. Vidal is convinced that the coalition's electoral programme will include the holding of a self-determination referendum. "On the referendum we are where we have always been. Catalonia must vote on its future. It will be part of our electoral programme", Vidal remarked when asked about this issue.
In the event that Sumar includes a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia, it seems unlikely that the promise could be fulfilled if Díaz becomes part of a new government alongside Pedro Sánchez. The position of the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) is clear in this regard: there is no place for any self-determination referendum because the Constitution does not allow it.
The Comuns will "go out to win" on 23rd July
The Comuns chose the exterior of the Fira de Sabadell trade fair premises, the same stage where Yolanda Díaz presented Sumar in Catalonia, to do the same with the Sumar-En Comú Podem list that will compete in the Spanish snap election on 23rd July. It will be headed by Vidal and Gerardo Pisarello and the plan is to "go out to win" because in these elections, they say, "the future of the country and of several generations is at stake", according to the ACN agency.
During her speech, Aina Vidal recalled that in the last four years they have been "at the heart" of the main legislative advances in the Spanish state and that they are now in a position to take everything that has been achieved "further". Here, Vidal made it clear that Sumar-En Comú Podemos is the only vote that "is not a coin in the air". "Ours is a useful vote to prevent the PP-Vox ticket from winning and to promote new proposals that improve our society", he added.
In turn, the list's number 2, Gerardo Pisarello, pointed out that "they are fully aware" that the PSOE will only make progressive policies in favour of Catalonia if there is a renewed and courageous left with the capacity to influence public policies. That is why he asked for the vote for a "clearly Republican" candidacy that, from a municipalist vision, will work to defend the citizens of Catalonia.
Pisarello also noted that in the last four years in Congress "they have found" that the state has centralist impulses that can only be deactivated if there are Catalanist forces willing to preserve and expand self-government in terms of language and education, and in very specific key infrastructures, such as two major rail projects: the Mediterranean Corridor for freight and Catalonia's Rodalies suburban and regional passenger lines.