Spanish government threatens Forcadell, Puigdemont in attempt to thwart independence

MadridLast Friday saw institutional tension between the Catalan parliament and the Spanish government rise another notch. During Friday’s cabinet meeting, Spain’s executive branch decided to file a complaint before the Constitutional Court against the Catalan parliament’s decision to vote and approve the conclusions of the constituent process, which open up a unilateral path towards independence. On Wednesday caretaker president Mariano Rajoy had already instructed the State Counsel to take legal action and he also spoke to the other Spanish political leaders to inform them about the steps that his government would be taking.

Two days later Spanish vice president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría announced that her government had decided to lodge a formal complaint with the Constitutional Court which includes several demands: to declare the Catalan parliament’s motion null, because “it ignores the court’s ruling of December 2015” on the sovereignty declaration of November 9; to suspend the motion immediately; and, lastly, to take the necessary steps to enforce the Court’s ruling by invoking the new powers that it was granted a few months ago.

The Speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, the chamber’s Bureau and Secretary General will be urged to refrain from abiding by the motion and will be expressly forbidden to debate or vote anything that bears any relation.

Likewise, Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and his cabinet ministers will not be allowed to “bring forward any legislation that might abide by the motion and its development” in connection with the “breakaway bills” (1). Sáenz de Santamaría stressed that there are “fines involved, as well as an indefinite suspension”. “We will demand that criminal charges be pressed, should anyone fail to abide by the Court’s ruling”, she warned. Furthermore, Sáenz believes that —regardless of Forcadell’s actions from now on— the Speaker may have already committed an offence. The Constitutional Court (TC) has been asked to inform the Prosecutor that, by allowing a vote on the conclusions of the constituent process, the TC’s ruling on the sovereignty declaration and last week’s writ warning against holding such a parliamentary debate might have been ignored. To justify her government’s request, the Spanish vice president remarked that “Forcadell might have committed an offence and that’s why we ask the TC to shed some light on the matter”.

The Spanish government’s complaint with the TC was filed by the State Counsel at noon on Friday, shortly after the cabinet meeting. The TC will meet on Monday at 12:30 in an extraordinary plenary session to assess the warnings aimed at Forcadell and Puigdemont and, if necessary, to decide on a penalty for the Catalan parliament’s Speaker.

The Spanish vice president characterised her government’s decision as a “restrained” response to Catalonia’s “constitutional defiance” and she added that the TC merely needs to be thorough whenever it exercises its powers. Her government’s watchful stance —the vice president added— will extend to other areas, such as the Treasury “where we have had some favourable rulings already”.

The Spanish executive believes that the Catalan parliament is “in contempt” of the TC’s ruling which declared the 9N breakaway declaration null and void, as well as the Court’s injunction warning the parliament and its Bureau that they were expected “to prevent or halt” any initiative that ignored a court mandate. The conclusions offered by the parliamentary committee that studied a constituent process for Catalonia include “a unilateral mechanism” for democratic exercise.

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(1) N.T. Catalan lawmakers are currently busy drafting and tabling new legislation to build statehood structures and institutions ahead of independence. There are three main bills in this regard, which are known in Catalonia as the “breakaway bills”.