Catalunya calls off public consultation on independence
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 @ 8:54 AM
CATALUNYA'S regional president Artur Mas has decided not to go ahead with the 'public consultation', or non-binding referendum on November 9.
The Bill of Law passed recently in the regional Parliament has been temporarily suspended by the Constitutional Court while it looks into the matter in greater detail, but this is unlikely to be resolved by the due date.
It means if Mas goes ahead, he could face criminal charges for sedition, or mutiny.
Part of the Bill has been agreed by the court – the section relating to the public being allowed to take part in policy-making processes – but the rest remains blocked, at least for the meantime.
To this end, Mas has not been able to publish the provisional register of voters, based upon the electoral census, which was due to appear on Friday (October 10).
He called a summit meeting at the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona yesterday (Monday) with the leaders of all parties who are in favour of a referendum.
These include his own deputy president, Joana Ortega and the minister for the presidency Francesc Homs; Oriol Junqueras of Esquerra Republicana Catalana ('Catalana Left Republic', or ERC); Jordi Turull (CDC); Ramon Espadaler of Unió i Convergència ('Convergence and Union', or CiU); Joan Herrera (ICV-EUiA) Joan Mena (Eco-Socialists); and Isabel Vallet and David Fernández of CUP.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com