THE SPANISH COURT OF AUDITORS APPROVES THE FISCALIZATION REPORT CONCERNING THE DESTINATION GIVEN TO THE RESOURCES ASSIGNED TO THE EXECUTION OF THE EXTERNAL ACTION POLICIES OF THE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF CATALONIA, CORRESPONDING TO THE FINANCIAL YEARS 2011-2017. (Click the link to read the Report)
Spanish Court of Auditors report – External Action Catalan government
La Vanguardia
Jaume Pi
23/08/2019 14:16
Although acting, the Government maintains its offensive against the foreign policy of the Generalitat. If this August the Secretary of State of Global Spain issued a 72-page report to try to dismantle the process, this Friday the Council of Ministers approved to submit a request for incompetence against the foreign action plan that the Catalan Government promoted last month of June.
This was announced by Isabel Celaá, the spokeswoman for the Executive presided by Pedro Sánchez, who has specified that the strategic plan presented by Regional Minister Alfred Bosch two months ago “exceeds the scope of the Generalitat.” “After studying the plan, the Government considers that it does not respect the competence of the State in matters of coordination of external action or the principles and guidelines that should govern the autonomous action in these areas,” said Celaá.
The plan does not refer to Catalonia as an autonomous community and favors expressions of greater ambiguity ” Isabel Celaá Acting Government Spokesman
Therefore, the Government takes this first step prior to presenting a conflict of jurisdiction before the Constitutional Court, considering that the Catalan government has violated Article 149 of the Constitution, which is the one that delimits the jurisdiction between State and communities, and that Specifies in point 3 that international relations are the exclusive competence of the State.
The incompetence requirement is a procedure that is made directly to the affected autonomous community. The Government thus requests the Generalitat to repeal or annul the “act or provision” that it considers violates state powers, in this case the foreign action plan. If the requested community does not respond to the request in a month, the Executive may file a conflict of competence with the Constitutional Court.
Celaá has lamented that the plan of the Generalitat does not mention normative instruments of the State, such as the Constitution itself or the Law of Foreign Action and that “the need to coordinate Catalan foreign action with the Spanish one is obvious”. In addition, she also considers it serious that the plan “does not refer to Catalonia as an autonomous community”, favoring “expressions of greater ambiguity”.
Along the same lines, the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas – who assumes the Territorial Policy competencies temporarily – ensures that the plan, written in English and Catalan, uses “wrong expressions” and a “distorted use of language” because it translate the word “consellers” as ministers instead of regional ministers. In his opinion, Catalonia is reflected as if it was a “recognized actor in the world in a fictional State that does not correspond to reality.”
Faced with this announcement, regional minister Bosch has assured that Catalonia’s external action “is not only legal and legitimate”, but also “necessary”. “We will face the nth arbitrariness of the Spanish Government,” he warned on Twitter.
The plan was presented by Bosch himself on June 25 after the meeting of the Consell Executiu chaired by Quim Torra. Among other things, the plan had to cover the opening of new delegations of the Generalitat abroad to have representation in the five continents. The regional minister announced the opening of three delegations: Tunisia, Mexico City and Buenos Aires.
The proposal of the Generalitat included the opening of new delegations: Tunisia, Mexico City and Buenos Aires
The incompetence requirement is a new attempt by judicial and / or administrative channels by the department directed by Josep Borrell to curb the purposes of the Generalitat in matters of Foreign Affairs. Last July the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJCat) ruled against the request of the ministry to provisionally close the Catalan delegations of Germany, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, although it was due to a defect in form: the Court considered that the Borrell’s request arrived late.
Also, the clash did not end there this summer: based on some information, the Generalitat has accused the Foreign Ministry of carrying out “espionage” work against some of its delegations. This week it has been known that the German prosecutor’s office has admitted a complaint made in July by the delegate of the Government in Berlin, Marie Kapretz, in this regard.
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