Catalan president tells dinner of analysts, politicians: his government already has ballot boxes
The get-together took place yesterday evening and enjoyed the presence of the Catalan government’s representative to Madrid, Ferran Mascarell; the professor of Constitutional Law Javier Pérez Royo; the writer Suso de Toto, the political scientist Ramón Cotarelo and the secretary general of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia, Albert Royo
MadridThe president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, attended a dinner yesterday evening with various Spanish and Catalan personalities who support the upcoming independence referendum. Under discussion were some of the issues the Catalan government has to confront before the 1 October vote. At the meeting were the Catalan government’s representative to Madrid, Ferran Mascarell; the professor of Constitutional Law Javier Pérez Royo; the secretary general of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia, Albert Royo; the writer Suso de Toto and the political scientist Ramón Cotarelo.
The meal started at nine in the evening and stretched through to well past midnight. According to some of those present, Puigdemont stated that his government already has the ballot boxes that will allow the Catalan people to vote in the 1 October referendum on independence.
This is one of the issues that the progress of the “[Independence] Process” towards to the referendum has focused on and one of those which has created the most tension within the executive. Indeed, it has already led to lawsuits against the Minister of the Governance, Meritxell Borràs and her former Secretary General, Francesc Esteve. Those charges led to the powers over electoral processes passing to the vice-president, Oriol Junqueras, now also designated “minister for the referendum”, responsible for coordinating strategy heading head of 1 October.
One of the other titbits that Puigdemont had for the attendees was that the bill for the referendum will be logged before the Parliament goes on its summer break. So by this Friday. This process doesn’t mean that it will be formally admitted for consideration, something that will have to be done when the parliament’s board starts its next session after the holiday. The wait could be shortened if the procedure reforms are passed in the plenary assembly this Wednesday, which would enable the chamber to be active from 16 August. That would then be when the first stage of the formal process could take place.
Looking abroad
The recognition of the legitimacy of the independence Process remains one of the greatest aspirations of the Catalan government and, as such, in the meeting the head of the executive also stressed the attention his government will pay to the elections in Germany on 24 September. According to some of the attendees, Puigdemont is convinced that Madrid won’t dare to “suppress” the referendum, as it would risk a “world scandal” in the eyes of the international community.
