The three Catalan pro-independence parties JxCat, ERC and the CUP have agreed to pass a resolution as part of the current general debate in the Catalan Parliament - and just hours before this Thursday's hearing in the Supreme Court on the disqualification of the president, Quim Torra - in which the three groups renew "the commitment with the people of Catalonia and with their majority will in order to achieve independence as the only way to protect the institutions and the social and economic well-being of the country”.
The resolution agreed by the pro-independence majority in the Catalan Parliament reiterating the committing to achieving independence.
Parliament's three pro-independence forces - which have a majority in the chamber - denounce Torra's trial as "disproportionate and outrageous" and say it "calls into question the functioning" of the Supreme Court, condemning what they describe as "repeated destabilizing attempts by the Spanish state against the institutions, economy and welfare of the people of Catalonia in a situation of health, social and economic emergency".
Sánchez and repressive dynamics
The text is also strongly critical of the government of Pedro Sánchez and states that the change of the executive in Spain - following the 2018 ousting of Mariano Rajoy's PP government - "has not changed the dynamics of repression or the judicial persecution of Catalan leaders elected at the polls as well as other movements of political dissent". The sentiments echoed the messages Quim Torra had himself set out this morning in his own address to the house.
On the eve of a court hearing which may remove the president from office, the three parliamentary groups reassert the sovereign will of the citizens of Catalonia, as expressed in the elections to the Parliament, saying that this is "above any criminalization, threat, intimidation, or attempt by the Spanish judiciary or prosecution service to strip it of its legitimacy”.
Disqualification
Although the resolution does not offer a specific response to the Supreme Court decision which could remove Torra from the presidency, it does recall that "only a majority of this Parliament has the legitimacy to grant or withdraw confidence in the president and the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia".
The text also "rejects the prosecution and possible conviction" of Torra for actions that it considers to be based on freedom of expression and parliamentary inviolability, and reiterates the solidarity of the signatories with the judicial processes the Catalan president has to face.
Repression has caused instability
The proposed resolution also underlines, in its first section, the "repeated repression against the last three presidents of Catalonia" - Artur Mas, Carles Puigdemont and now Torra - against the speaker of Parliament, and all members of the Catalan government, the chamber and the social activists who have been or are pursued by Spanish justice.
Faced with this situation, "it is clear that the repression exercised by the Spanish state is the main source of political instability in Catalonia" and that it will not stop with a possible disqualification of Torra.