Cordon sanitaire against far-right Vox at Catalan Parliament

The majority of parties in the Catalan Parliament have signed a cordon sanitaire against Vox, an agreement to refuse to work or cooperate with the far-right party. The Socialists, ERC, JxCat, Comuns and CUP have all put their names to the “antifascist agreement” made up of ten points. In total, the five parties make up 115 of the 135 seats in the Catalan chamber.

The document is aimed at combatting “ hate speech, defending human rights, and countering false information that could lead to discrimination and human rights violations.” It also aims to prevent Vox from holding any positions of power within the bodies of government or power, as well as not taking part in any meetings or working groups with the far-right party.

Parties who have signed up to the agreement also call on the parliament bureau “to ratify the current calendar of institutional commemorations,” which includes events such as the commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of the Roma people and the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.

Another of the points included sees the groups “unanimously reject any manifestation of verbal, physical or psychological violence against MPS” for reasons of “discrimination of any nature,” while also maintaining initiatives giving visibility to femicide and racism, and promote the creation of a committee studying institutional racism.

The February 2021 election saw a far-right party enter the parliament for the first time as Vox picked up 11 seats to become the fourth-largest force in the hemicycle.