Catalan president Aragonès warns a ‘referendum on independence’ will be unavoidable

A future referendum on Catalonia’s possible independence from the rest of Spain “will cease to be unconstitutional and impossible,” similar to the imminent amnesty law for those involved in the 2017 secessionist attempt, Catalan President Pere Aragonès, of the separatist Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party, said on Monday (8 April).

Speaking in the Spanish Senate, where the Spanish People’s Party (Partido Popular/EPP) has a majority, Aragonès challenged Spain’s prime minister to allow a referendum.

But Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) has repeatedly made it clear that an independence referendum is a “red line” for the executive, given that it would violate the Spanish Constitution (of 1978), Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

“No matter how much people shout, the amnesty will be inevitable, as will the singular financing (future tax collection at regional level) and the referendum,” said Aragonès before the Senate’s General Commission of Autonomous Communities.

This was during Monday’s debate on the national parliamentary procedure report on the impact of the amnesty law on the rest of Spain’s regions.

“We do not understand impossibilities. Catalonia does not understand impossibilities,” the Catalan president stressed.

It is not the first time that Aragonès and his right-wing separatist rival, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, leader of the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) formation, have indirectly challenged and threatened Sánchez with the call for a referendum.

After the Spanish PM signed a government deal with JxCat in November 2023, Puigdemont and Aragonès have reiterated several times that the amnesty law is only the first step and that the separatist forces’ goal is to call a referendum on independence for the prosperous Spanish region.

According to a recent poll conducted for the Catalan regional government (Generalitat), 51% of Catalans would reject the region’s independence from the rest of Spain, while 42% support it.

The stability of Sánchez’s coalition government with the left-wing platform Sumar depends directly on the parliamentary support of JxCat and ERC.

They have guaranteed to support the central government for the next four years of the legislature, including approving national budgets until 2027, a key element of Sánchez’s social policy agenda.

Catalonia holds a decisive election on 12 May, in which the Socialist Party (PSC) is the favourite, and a fierce dispute is expected between JxCat and ERC for second place.

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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