10/30/2017
Spanish government should agree on schedule to restore Catalonia’s autonomy
Catalonia-dispute must be defused (Press Release)
Last week, the Spanish government had closed down the Catalan parliament and disempowered the regional government. Photo: Angela Llop via Flickr
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) urges the Spanish government to agree on a schedule to restore Catalonia’s status of autonomy. “Specific plans like this could help to calm down the dispute over the future of the region and the tensions between the pro-independence movement and its opponents,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Monday. “The autonomy status of the region of Catalonia is an essential aspect of constitutional order, for the Spanish constitution recognizes and guarantees the nationalities and regions a right to autonomy.” Last week, the Spanish government had closed down the Catalan parliament and disempowered the regional government.
The human rights organization has appealed to the Spanish government to finally recognize the revised and extended Statute of Autonomy, which dates back to the year 2005 and was accepted by the Catalan parliament, the Spanish parliament, and (in a referendum) by the Catalan people. Later,
the Spanish People’s Party and its chairman – today’s Prime Minister Marino Rajoy – had intervened, and the constitutional court had declared several of the statute’s articles to be unconstitutional.
The constitutional court is in the hands of judicial representatives of the Conservative PP and the
socialist party PSOE. There are no representatives of the three “historical nationalities” (Catalans, Basques, and Galicians), which, together, make up at least one third of the Spanish population.
Thus, the STP emphasizes that the constitutional court had (in judgment 42/2014) demanded the Spanish politicians to change to constitution, if necessary, to allow for a reform of the autonomy statute. “Therefore, the public authorities – particularly the territorial powers, which are part of our autonomous state – must aim to address the problems in this field by means of dialogue and cooperation,“ says the groundbreaking judgement. “Currently, politics in Spain don’t seem to be ready for a dialogue and efforts to find a sustainable solution to the conflict. Instead, the policy of escalation and coercion will probably lead to a further escalation of the conflict,” Delius stated.
Headerphoto: Angela Llop via Flickr
