Vicepresident Munté: this government “will stand by” Forcadell if she faces criminal charges
The Catalan government believes that Carme Forcadell, the Speaker of the parliament, “merely practiced parliamentarianism”
The government of Catalonia will “stand by” Speaker Carme Forcadell, if she is eventually indicted for allowing a debate on the conclusions of the chamber’s committee for the constituent process. At the press conference that usually follows Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Neus Munté stated that “it would be extremely serious if Forcadell was disqualified as a result of criminal charges being pressed. Forcadell has merely practiced parliamentarianism”. Only the day before, it had transpired that Spain’s Public Prosecutor intends to have the Speaker of the Catalan parliament indicted.
On the subject of whether the Catalan chamber will file a defence plea before the Constitutional Court —both Ciudadanos and the Prosecutor have submitted their statements— Munté stressed that the parliament “has every right to defend itself” and she argued that, in order to eventually appeal to international courts of law, every judicial recourse within Spain must be exhausted first.
As a matter of fact, pro-independence government coalition Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) will meet tomorrow to consider whether a defence plea should be submitted and the parliament’s Bureau will make their own decision on Thursday morning.
The Prosecution’s demand
While Ciudadanos have already sent in their own conclusions to the Constitutional Court and the parliament’s Bureau is convening on Thursday to decide whether to file a plea or not, Spain’s Public Prosecution have already submitted theirs.
As published on Saturday by Catalan daily La Vanguardia —and was confirmed by online news outlet El Español on Tuesday— the Prosecutor claims that Forcadell’s consent to include a vote on the conclusions of the committee for the process in the parliament’s agenda for July 27 “might carry such judicial relevance whose scope may be determined through the proper jurisdictional channel”. The Prosecutor is seeking criminal charges against Forcadell for disobeying the injunctions issued by Spain’s Constitutional Court.
The Prosecutor believes that approving the conclusions in parliament “cannot be regarded as exercising the freedom of parliamentary debate” because that would conflict with “two specific injunctions issued by the Constitutional Court and it carries legal effects that overstep the powers granted to the Catalan parliament by law”. The Prosecutor regards the approval of the conclusions of the committee for the constituent process as following on the breakaway declaration of November 9 2015, which the Constitutional Court had ruled unconstitutional.
