The political parties of Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) and the CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) have registered this Monday via 'fast-track' legislation the 'Proposal of the Law of the Referendum', previously signed by all the deputies of both groups, excluding the four members from the committee "to guarantee impartiality".
The law will give legal security to the referendum of 1st October and was registered by the president of Junts pel Sí, Lluís Corominas, and the spokeswoman of the group, Marta Rovira, accompanied by the deputies, Benet Salellas and Gabriela Serra. The formality has been carried out on the last working day of Parliament, which will then close its doors on Tuesday until 16th August.
It will be around this date when the Board of Parliament will meet again to decide whether or not to accept the Proposed Referendum Law. In the event that it is finally admitted to proceed, the law will be published in the Official Bulletin of the Parliament of Catalonia (BOPC), and which will be the starting shot for the parliamentary process.
In a press conference after the registration of the law, Junts pel Sí and the CUP reiterated their commitment to the celebration of the referendum and attacked the appeal of the new regulations of the Catalan chamber by the Spanish government in front of the Constitutional Court (TC) on the grounds of unconstitutionality. In particular, the new legislation allows for the approval of proposals in one single hearing and at the request of a single group, and which would allow, for example, the very same Law of the Referendum to pass through more rapidly, and without amendments from the opposition.
Junts pel Sí assured that the government's appeal is not in answer to any legal reasoning, but to the origin of the reform, the Catalan Parliament itself. "The answer to this appeal is the presentation of the Law of the Referendum, because the democracy in Catalonia will not be stopped by the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, nor by the Constitutional Court," advised Corominas.
Call to vote
The CUP qualified the Law of the Referendum as a "country law" and called "to overcome partisan readings in order to broaden the votes for the law", making a clear reference to the deputies of Catalunya Sí que es Pot ('Catalonia Yes We Can'), who are in favour of the referendum but critical of the procedure followed by Junts pel Sí and the CUP.
The anti-capitalist deputy, Benet Salellas, has also criticised the appeal against the new regulations as an "intervention of the self-organisation of a Parliament, which is setting an exceptional climate in order to threaten us." In the face of this, the CUP has claimed the "firmness, determination and conviction that the referendum will exist".
Criticism from the opposition
The oppositon has criticised the registration of the Referendum Law, on the same day that Ciudadanos (Citizens) and the Catalan Popular Party (PP) have filed an appeal against the regulation reform before the TC. The deputy Lorena Roldán has described the registration of the law as "another little number from those with an official car in favour of a coup", putting the blame on the president of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, and vice president, Oriol Junqueras. "They have hidden behind the actions of their deputies because they do not want to assume responsibilities. It is an act of cowardice that we are accustomed to. Mas has already done it, who blamed the volunteers," said Roldán.
On behalf of the PSC (Socialists' Party of Catalonia), the deputy Alicia Romero criticised the Law of the Referendum presented by Junts pel Sí and the CUP in that "it does not try to respect the heirarchy regulations neither of the Constitution nor of the State". For that reason the socialists consider that the Board should not admit the process. "We hope the Board will act according to the legal system, which is a guarantee of democracy within the state's democracy," assured Romero.