Marcos Lamelas
06/25/2019 16:08 – Updated: 06/25/2019 21:11
The “We will do it again” by Jordi Cuixart has added to the mantras of the ‘procés’, same type as “We are in a hurry” or “The world is watching us”. But this Tuesday, on the real ground, ERC has made it clear: they, at least, will not do it again. This time ERC has listened to the lawyers of the Parliament who have advised not to process a popular legislative initiative (ILP), which has died in the Board of the Catalan Chamber. The two members of ERC abstained and that allowed the votes of Cs and PSC to overthrow an initiative that proposed, neither more nor less, to recover the declaration of independence of October 27, 2017; yes, that independence which lasted eight seconds. The voting has resulted in two votes in favor, three against and two abstentions. For the ERC president of the Parliament, Roger Torrent, unilateralism is a thing of the past.
The Parliament rejects a popular initiative to make a new DUI
JxCAT has come out in a whirlwind, from the hands of its spokesman and vice-president of the Parliament, Josep Costa, who has seen again that the unity that exists in the Government is broken in the parliamentary Chamber. “As JxCAT we think that the Parliament should give the opportunity to discuss all the initiatives and generate a citizen debate. That is why we have voted in favor of admitting the ILP of Units per la Independència for processing. In the Parliament it must be possible to debate everything”, said Costa.
JxCAT has seen again that the unity in the Govern is broken in the parliamentary chamber
But not this time. The lawyers of the Parliament, always confronted with Costa, have advised against it and the members of the ERC have preferred to follow criteria of maximum prudence. The lawyers have alleged a “problem of form”, although in reality it was a fundamental problem: the ILP is unconstitutional.
Units per la Independència is an almost unknown association. It was born in January of this year, driven by two pro-sovereignty tweeters, Isabel Castro and Carles Santacruz, who claim that their entity is a ‘think tank’ and that the only way through which independence can be achieved is unilateralism. Now, after the setback in the Board of Parliament, it no longer makes sense to get the 50,000 signatures that were necessary for the initiative to prosper and the Parliament to be forced to process a new DUI.
Carles Carrizosa, of Cs, has claimed the victory in the Board, but the certain thing is that without the abstention of ERC, the ILP would have prospered.
Bad moment
For ERC it is a bad moment. The priisoners return this Tuesday to the prison of Lledoners, and therefore they return to the policy of mobilizations appealing to the most sentimental side of the pro-sovereignty movement. But the Republicans have no interest in sending more people to prison for a policy of empty gestures.
Seven prisoners of the ‘procés’ arrive in Zuera and this Wednesday they will be transferred to Catalonia
Within the Board, the debate has been cold. From the beginning, JxCAT, headed by Costa, has announced that it voted in favor. And Roger Torrent has given many laps in a half-hour intervention to end up saying that he listened to the lawyers and that’s why they abstained. There were no public accusations, according to sources of the Board.
The situation of Forcadell
Torrent’s predecessor, Carme Forcadell, also returns to a Catalan prison on Tuesday. The same day that the House she chaired rejects her main argument: she acted in defense of freedom of expression and a Parliament can talk about everything, even with institutional approaches. Now, while she awaits sentence, her successor does the opposite of her, who always ignored the lawyers of the Parliament. As of today, the unconstitutional proposals of departure are left aside. ‘Will we do it again?’ It seems doubtful.
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