Mas in Frankfurter Allgemeine: “Spain ought to show greater democratic maturity”
In an article written for one of the top German newspapers, the president of Catalonia claims that the Catalan separatist movement is “sturdy and committed”, like the one that brought down the Berlin wall
LondonIn an article published in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Catalan president Artur Mas states that “Spain ought to show greater democratic maturity” when dealing with Catalonia’s demands. Mas writes that Madrid “hides” behind “legal pseudo-arguments because it lacks the necessary political courage” to accept a referendum. The president of Catalonia insists that the elections of September 27 will have “an undeniable plebiscite nature” because “the Spanish state and its courts of law prevent an agreed referendum” and there is “no other way round it”. Mas argues that “despite the obvious differences”, in Catalonia there is a “grass-roots movement not unlike the one that brought down the Berlin wall”.
“Only history will tell whether Catalonia is inventing a new way to resolve political and territorial conflicts”, Mas writes in the Frankfurter, as he recalls how the huge demonstrations on Catalonia’s National Day (September 11) were “among the most massive in the history of the world”. “You can argue about the exact figures, but you cannot deny the magnitude and strength of this civic movement, which includes people from nearly all the political parties”, he remarks. Mas feels that the turnout at the rallies is “impressive” for a nation of 7.5m people. “On a German scale, it is as if 19m people had taken to the streets”, he notes.
In his article, which is part of a sensitisation campaign in foreign media, Mas warns that “in a democracy there is a prohibition that is hard to justify and, as such, difficult to accept: the prohibition to vote”. Artur Mas argues that a majority of Catalans “have long wanted to vote on Catalonia’s political future” but Madrid denies them this option with legal arguments. “Here is a nation that demands to vote and cannot understand the reasons why this is not allowed”, he insists.
“Should the people be subservient to the law or the other way round?, Mas asks in his article, as he wonders whether “the Spanish government realises that it might end up turning Spain into a cage”. Furthermore, the Catalan president argues that “the forty-year long dictatorship under General Franco, when we could not vote or decide anything, is well behind us; Spain ought to show greater democratic maturity”.
Mas also notes that demanding independence within the EU “is not a Catalan invention. Since 2004, thirteen new countries have joined the EU, seven of which were not independent before 1990”. According to Mas, if Catalans support the Yes parties at the polls on September 27, then “the new government will have a democratic mandate to fulfill” and it will finish building the foundations of the new country to ensure “a normalised transition”. “We will negotiate with Madrid and the EU the calendar and terms of the constitution of a new European state. We will have achieved something both as simple and complex as exercising democracy”, he concludes.
