Rull calls for mixed convention of citizens and elected officials to draft Catalan Constitution
The general coordinator of CDC wants the constitutional process to also include groups that view process with suspicion
Josep Rull, general coordinator of CDC, is proposing a convention open to citizen participation, but also with the presence of elected officials, to prepare the text of the "Catalan Constitution" provided for in the roadmap to sovereignty. Rull believes that the convention should have direct citizen participation, similar to experiences such as those in Ireland or Iceland. In particular, the roadmap agreed to by CDC, ERC, and pro-sovereignty organizations for the elections of September 27 provides that within 10 months a draft constitution would be prepared via a mechanism that allows direct citizen participation.
In the case of Ireland, said the "number two" of CDC, the constitutional convention was made up of citizens chosen at random, but also of representatives and other elected officials, while in Iceland "mechanisms for citizen participation" were also used to change its Constitution. "The UK is also considering having citizens participate, not to change the Constitution, because it doesn´t have one, but to modify some basic rules, and this has come about as a result of the self-determination referendum in Scotland," explained Rull.
In the case of the Catalan constitutional convention one could foresee that, along with representatives and citizens, mayors and councilors could also be present, Rull said. According to the CDC leader, the process of preparing an eventual text of a Catalan Constitution should last approximately ten months from when the new Parliament emerging from the September 27th elections approves the "initial declaration of sovereignty", as indicated in the sovereignty roadmap signed by CiU and ERC.
Rull wants parties that look on the process with suspicion to participate in the constitutional convention. "We would like for this space to be very inclusive, and for it to serve as a way of reincorporating forces that didn´t sign the roadmap, such as ICV, EUiA, and also Podemos and certain sectors of the PSC, that might want to participate in the exercise of imagining how we want our new country to be".
