Santi Vidal to join Govern to work on constitutional process

BarcelonaSantiago Vidal will not be the Number 2 on the Esquerra Republicana (ERC) candidacy for the Barcelona City Council. His job in the next few months will have nothing to do with the municipal elections or with being an elected official. In the end, the judge from the Court of Barcelona, suspended from his job for having worked on a draft of a Catalan constitution, will invest his time from now until 27 September-- the date of parliamentary elections-- in the institutional arena. Vidal has accepted an offer from the Generalitat that, according to what ARA has learned, has to do with the work that needs to be done from now until July related with "state structures" and the "constitutional process", coordinated by the commissioner for the National Transition, Carles Viver i Pi-Sunyer. Sources in the government assure that there have been "talks", but that no agreement has been reached yet. "We have always looked for a collaboration, via the Justice Department, to discuss the model for Justice, but never through commissioner Pi-Sunyer", the same sources indicated.

The magistrate, in a statement to this newspaper, assured that his job will be related with "planning" and "designing" the national transition process that will culminate in the September 27th elections. It is a position related with the constituent process, that CiU and ERC want to have ready to submit to citizens for consideration at the ballot boxes; the job will have a "technical profile", and the majority of his efforts will be concentrated between now and the summer. "It is a position to build a new country," he said, "a very exciting job". He also assured that it will allow him to maintain the "broad perspective" and the "independence" that he hopes to preserve as a judge ---which is what he wants to dedicate himself to.

Vidal added that his new occupation will "allow" him to wait for a decision by the Supreme Court on his future as a judge --he has appealed the General Judiciary Council’s decision to remove him from the Court of Barcelona. He hopes that the court will rule in his favor and that he will be able to "rejoin" the judicial system.

The collaboration of Vidal in the institutional role will be clarified "soon", with his appointment by the Generalitat, and, according to him, with the ratification by Parliament with a "qualified majority". He told this newspaper that it is a position with a "technical" profile, and will be "very effective". This will be a job of six months, until the end of this term. After 27-S, Vidal’s future will be "open" once again.

Rejection of a proposal from Alfred Bosch

With this decision, Santiago Vidal rejected an offer to be number two to Alfred Bosch (ERC) for Barcelona. The judge assured that he had already communicated this to the Republican mayoral candidate. Nevertheless, he said that he would give his support to ERC in the municipal elections in Barcelona, and that he would be present next Wednesday at the announcement of the candidacy of Alfred Bosch to challenge Xavier Trias for the mayor’s job in the Catalan capital. He did not exclude the possibility of "symbolically" closing out the ERC list.

The rejection by the judge of the second spot on the Bosch ticket in Barcelona follows that of Jordi Martí. The former Socialist councilor and current spokesman for MES-- a group that consists of pro-sovereignty socialists-- already declined the offer from ERC at the end of January to dedicate himself "with body and soul" to the new party that he leads, and to make it into a "potent voice for pro-sovereignty socialism". He also claimed "professional commitments" related with the academic and cultural worlds that he would have to renounce if he opted for a return to City Hall.

Commissioner for the National Transition

On February 17th, Artur Mas, president of the Generalitat, announced his decision to create two new commissioners in the Generalitat to tackle the last stretch of his term: the Commissioner for the National Transition, which will be filled by Carles Viver Pi-Sunyer, and the Commissioner for Transparency, a position held by Núria Bassols.

Santiago Vidal’s future will have to do with functions of the Commissioner for the National Transition. According to what Viver Pi-Sunyer explained yesterday during an interview on El matí de Catalunya Ràdio, this Commission will focus, among other things, on promoting and drafting "the provisional Constitution", which should be launched just after the "disconnection". Pi-Sunyer said that this legal text would regulate "normal aspects" that a Constitution regulates. For example, who votes, the language regime or the legal succession clause so that there would be no lapse in regulations if a separation occurred. In this sense, the commissioner noted that "experts" would be needed.

As to when the naming of Vidal to the commission would happen, and specifically what responsibilities would be involved, the judge said that this is a decision for the Generalitat that will have to be ratified by the Parliament.