Newsletter N.

12 11/2/2011

The Parliament of Catalonia will have to discuss about the independence

The Board of the Parliament has given permission to proceed with the Proposal of Law of Independence

The Parliament will have to discuss about the Independence of Catalonia, after its Board has given permission to proceed with the first Proposal of Law brought in by Catalan Solidarity for the Independence (SI). This fact should force the members of the Parliament to vote in favor or against the start of the process aimed to have an own state. The Proposal of Law for the independence has been allowed by the votes of CIU while PSC and PP have voted against it admission. It will be discussed by the entire Parliament this year in March or April. The permission to proceed with the Proposal of Law to declare the Independence, pronounced by the Board of the Parliament, must be ratified by the Parliament and will force the parliamentarians to vote in favor or against to regulate the steps that should be taken by the Parliament and the Government of Catalonia to initiate de process of independence and its international recognition, and also to declare it. If the formalities are admitted and passed, the process to declare the independence would begin. This process should be negotiated with the international community and lastly, it should be voted in a solemn session by the Parliament of Catalonia.

The proposal of Catalan Solidarity for the Independence is based in the decisions 98/III, 679/V and 631/VIII passed by the Catalan Parliament in favor of self-determination. In 1989, 1998 and 2010, the Parliament passed some motions about it. Catalan Solidarity for the Independence is based on these facts to make possible that the Parliament will discuss and decide about the exercise of this right. SI had stated that the fact of not giving permission to proceed with the Proposal of Law would denature the grounds of the parliamentarian democracy. Moreover, and so as to put pressure on the members of the Board so as to give the permission, Joan Laportas party fostered a massive sending of e-mails by citizens addressed to the Board and demanding the permission.

The votes of CIU allowed the process Finally, the Parliament will discuss the Proposal of Law thanks to the votes in favor of the four CIU representatives, while the two members of PSC and the member of PP voted against it. The first vice-president of the Board, Llus M. Corominas, announced the decision and explained that in giving permission to proceed they did not examine the contents, but the form of the Proposal of Law. According to Corominas, it is the Parliament who must take a stand about the contents. Now, the Proposal of Law initiates its process and possibly in March or April it will be discussed by the Parliament. The following members of the Board have voted in favor of giving the go-ahead to this Proposal of Law: CiU representatives Nria de Gispert (the president of the Parliament), Mr. Coromines r, Josep Rull (third secretary), and Dolors Batalla (fourth secretary). The members of PSC and PPC, Higini Clotas (second vice-president of the Board), Jordi Cornet (the first secretary) and Montserrat Tura (second secretary). They qualified the proposal as a complete illegality as they consider that it is out of the limits of constitutional and statutory legality. The proposal, after being given the administrative go-ahead, will be published in the Official Gazette of the Parliament of Catalonia. In a near meeting, the House Business Committee must agree to mark the beginning of the period during which the groups desiring to file amendments against the whole proposal may do it. This period will be of ten working days, though the groups may ask for an extra-time. At the end of this period, the House Business Committee must decide about including the first general debate of this proposal in some agenda.

The general debate must take place before the whole Parliament, regardless of the existence or not of amendments. In case of no amendments or if those are rejected, the initiative passes the stages in the committee (filing of amendments, working committee and report by the committee) and finally it will be sent back to the Parliament for being discussed and voted. If during the general debate an amendment is passed, the proposal is rejected.

Lpez Tena: The routing sheet for the Parliament of Catalonia to declare the independence, if they deem it appropriate, is now open
08/02/2011

Alfons Lpez Tena, parliamentary and spokesman of Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia Catalan Solidarity for the Independence (SI) at he Parliament, thanked the parliamentarians of CIU for allowing the Board of the Parliament to fulfill their duty and to comply with Spanish law, not hindering the Proposal of Law of Independence of Catalonia. Although according to SI parliamentarian they just did their job, he appreciated that the Board of the Parliament has not superposed its political convictions on the law. SI spokesman at the Parliament is satisfied because, from now on, a process will begin and also it will start the routing sheet heading the Parliament of Catalonia to declare independence, if they deem it appropriate. The political position of every group will be perfectly lawful but it must be discussed in the Parliament, not in the Board.

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Uriel Bertran: For the first time in history, a voting for the independence of the Catalan Nation will take place in the Parliament
The representative and spokesman for Catalan Solidarity, Uriel Bertran, considers to be very positive the fact that the Board of the Parliament has given leave this morning to the proposal of law of independence that SI filed on February 2. According to Bertran, for the first time in history there will be a debate about the independence of the

Catalan Nation in the Parliament. The representative of SI has appreciated the more than de 5.000 e-mails sent in the last hours by citizens to the members of the Board of the Parliament, asking them to give a go-ahead to the proposal of law. Bertran stated: The debate about the independence is caused by a majority wish expressed in the demonstration held on July 10, last year, and he is demanding free vote for all the members of the Parliament. About the success of the proposal, he stated everything is possible, but the most important is that Catalan Solidarity for the Independence, having only four members in the Parliament, has achieved the debate about the independence of Catalonia that is basic for our country. He also stated that his coalition expects that this proposal will be one of the first proposals of law being discussed, and they also hope that the representatives of CiU will vote in favor of it, as the national rights of Catalonia are the reason of this coalition.

Grup Mixt - Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

Ref.: 202ALT291210001

TO THE PARLIAMENT BOARD Alfons Lpez i Tena, representing the Catalan Solidarity for Independence subgroup, according to the article 22 b 3 of the Parliament Regulation, submits the following law proposal:

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF CATALONIA PROPOSAL

RECORDS The article 1.2 of the United Nations letter establishes that the purposes of the United Nations are "To promote friendly relations between nations based on a principle of equal rights and the nations freedom of self determination". In the article 55 it says: "with the objective of creating the necessary conditions of welfare and stability for the peaceful and friendly relations between nations, based on the respect to the principle of equal rights and the nations free determination, the organization will promote:

Grup Mixt - Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

a) Higher life levels, permanent employment for everyone and conditions for the economical and social development; and b) The solution of international economical, social and health problems, and other related problems; international cooperation in the educational issue; and c) The universal respect to the human rights and everyone's fundamental freedom without distinction of sex, race, language or religion, and the effectiveness of these rights and freedoms" Repeatedly, the Parliament of Catalonia has passed resolutions on Catalonia's self determination right, thus exercising competence in this matter, which has made its own. For all of them we must mention: Resolution 98/III on the right of the Catalan Nation's self-determination 12th of December 1989: The Parliament of Catalonia:
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States that the compliance with the current institutional framework, resulting of the political transition process from the dictatorship to democracy, doesn't imply renouncing to the Catalan Nation's self-determination, as established by the international organisms and deduced in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia's preamble in 1979. Consequently declares that whenever it wants, through the planned action in the same constitutional ordinance, it could increase the level of self-government to whatever limits it finds appropriate and, in general, adapt the regulation of the national rights to the circumstances of each moment in history. -Resolution 679/V on the Executive Council's general political orientation of the 1st of October 1998:

II.

The Parliament of Catalonia in the framework of the Human Rights 50th anniversary, reaffirms once more the right of the Catalan Nation to freely determine its future as a nation of peace, democracy and solidarity III. -Resolution 6 31/VIII on the right of self determination and on the recognition of the popular referendums on independence, the 3rd of March 2010:

The Parliament of Catalonia: 1. Reaffirms the validity of the Resolution 98/III on the Catalan Nation right of self-determination, taken the 12th of December 1989, and the Resolution 679/V, taken the 1st of October 1998, of reaffirmation of the previous.

Grup Mixt - Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

4. It reaffirms the intention of using all the current legal and political instruments needed to exercise the right of the Catalan Nation to decide. Finally, we must take into account the International Criminal Court Sentence referred to Kosovo, where for the first time is recognized that that the Unilateral Declaration of Independence fits in the international laws. STATEMENT OF REASONS Catalonia's belonging to Spain has led Catalonia to a deep moral, cultural, financial, institutional and identity crisis. The aggression that meant the sentence of the Spanish Constitutional Court to the Statute has confirmed that the autonomism condemns the nation to the extinction and that Catalonia isn't considered an equal in the relations with Spain, quite the opposite, it finds itself under Spain domination. After more than thirty years of Spanish constitutional regime, the majority of Catalans expresses unequivocally their wish to overcome the autonomous system and constitute a Catalan Nation inside the European Union. The independence of Catalonia is the only feasible alternative to continue the Catalan national project and to guarantee Catalans welfare; since Spain is decided, as always, to standardize the non Spanish nations and assimilate them and any federal attempt, or statutory recuperation or financial agreement, knowing the impossibility of a Constitutional reform, it's an unattainable fantasy. Catalonia's reduction to an autonomous region of common regime culminates with the Constitutional Court sentence. The process started with the coup d'tat the 23rd of February 1981 and has frustrated all the hope placed on the reestablishment of the Generalitat, abolished in 1714, and the return of its president, exiled since 1939. The unilateral modification of the Statute, passed by Catalonia in a Referendum makes it impossible to reestablish with any other measure or law. The only option left is to submit to the Spanish forced conduct and resign ourselves to being a mere Spanish region, or to have recourse to the international law to proclaim the independence. Catalonia's reduction to the autonomous general regime has been applied, most of all, in Generalitat's financing and the lack of state public expenses in Catalonia. This fact has produced an unbearable chronicle deficit in the fiscal balance between Catalonia and Spain, more than 10% of the annual GDP, about 22.000 million euros (3.000 euros per Catalan and year that go to Spain and never return to Catalonia). As a result of this deficit, the Catalan crisis is the worst of the European industrialized countries. The 30th of June 2010 there were 676.000 unemployed citizens in Catalonia, the 17,71% of active population. The average of unemployment in the euro area countries was10%; the Vasc Country, which doesn't suffer from the fiscal plundering

Grup Mixt - Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

thanks to the Financial Agreement, had a rate of 10,4%. Without the fiscal plundering, in Catalonia there would be 280.000 less people unemployed. Catalonia won't overcome the financial crisis until it becomes a State of the European Union. Being a state we will have first class infrastructures, we will invest in the Mediterranean arch that will allow our ports to be Asia's gate to Europe, we will be able to enjoy an airport and port system and a train network that connects Catalonia with the world and a road network without tolls. If Catalonia is a state we will be the forth state in higher income per capita in Europe! In an independent Catalonia we could give more and better services because we wouldn't have to maintain Spain. We could duplicate public expenses in health care, quadruple the expenses in education, multiply by 16 the expenses for public works or by 32 the public loans and support for companies. Since 1978 the minorization of the Catalan language and culture has continued because Spain doesn't recognize the territoriality of the Catalan language and culture. The Spanish Constitution treats Catalans as a linguistic minority inside their own nation. Only the linguistic immersion in schools applied the principle of territoriality, but this measure has been invalidated by the sentences of the Spanish Supreme Court that order the reintroduction of Castilian in all the Educational system. The Catalan language and culture are in a limit situation that doesn't guarantee its survival. Only as a state can invert the tendency to minorization we are in as a consequence of the dependancy. Any other project apart from the unilateral declaration of independence is unviable and it will lead to helplessness and frustration. Only the declaration of independence is feasible because it means building a new law legislation with the vote of 68 Catalan deputies and it has been supported by the UN International Court of Justice. The Catalan nation has already reacted to the Spanish power that try to bury its desire to exist, and it has already spoken out through the popular referendum on independence consisting on more than 500 local committees, more than 50.000 volunteers and more than half a million votes for independence, with a spectacular demonstration on the 10th of July 2010 in which more than a million citizens rebelled against the decision of the Constitutional Court demanding the independence.

LAW PROPOSAL
Article 1. Catalonia is a nation. Article 2. The Catalan nation is the only holder of national sovereignty.

Grup Mixt - Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

Article 3. The Parliament of Catalonia is the democratically chosen representative of the Catalan citizens. Article 4. The Catalan nation doesn't renounce and it has never renounced the right to selfdetermination, to determine its future freely as a nation in peace, democracy and solidarity. Article 5. The Parliament of Catalonia reaffirms its desire to use all the current legal and political instruments needed to exercise the right of the Catalan Nation to determine its future. Article 6. The national sovereignty of the Catalan Nation is the foundation of the future sovereign and independent State of the Catalan Nation. Article 7. The decision to declare independence belongs to the Catalan Nation as the holder of the national sovereignty, and to the Parliament of Catalonia as its representative chosen democratically. Article 8. Through this law the Government of the Generalitat is authorized to negotiate the international recognition of the declaration of independence. Article 9. Within three months from the passing of the present law, an Assembly of Representatives of the Catalan Nation will be created that will work to declare the independence everywhere in Catalonia. Article 10. The declaration of independence will be effective: - Once the present procedural Declaration of Independence Law is passed. - Once the way and the moment is negotiated with the internal community. - Once it is declared by an absolute majority of deputies in solemn session of the Parliament of Catalonia called for such purpose.

Grup Mixt - Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

Transitory regulation The declaration of Independence will be made in the current legislation when everything that states the article 10 of the present law is accomplished. Palace of the Parliament, 2nd of February 2011

Alfons Lpez i Tena, Representative of the subgroup of Catalan Solidarity for Independence

Relacions Poltiques Internacionals de Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

relacionspolitiquesinternacional@solidaritatcatalana.cat http://www.solidaritatcatalana.cat/