Parliament’s President: ‘Catalonia will be what its people want to be’

The President of the Catalan Chamber, Carme Forcadell, called for participation in Catalonia’s National Day, which is going to be celebrated on the 11th of September with pro-independence mobilisations in different cities within and without Catalonia. ‘This country will be what its people want to be and what they express on the streets’, she stated this Thursday. Forcadell didn’t confirm whether she will attend the demonstration organised this year by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) or not and called for people to celebrate Catalonia’s National Day ‘in their own way’ but ‘in freedom’, as happens ‘in every country in the world’. Forcadell’s relationship with the last five years’ massive demonstrations held in Catalonia on the 11th of September is especially close, since she is a founder and former president of the ANC and held this position until 2015.

Forcadell, who was one of the most visible figures responsible for the last massive pro-independence demonstrations held in Catalonia on the 11^th of September, assured that since 2012 Catalan society has ‘unequivocally’ expressed its collective will. ‘The citizens are those who move the country forward and push the politicians so that they can achieve the common goals’, she stated and predicted that they ‘will continue to push in order to achieve a freer, fairer and more democratic country’.

‘Catalonia’s identity is still alive’
Forcadell also stated that Catalonia’s National Day evokes freedom and that ‘despite centuries of impositions and prohibitions, Catalonia’s identity is still alive’. At an event held in Tarragona this Thursday, Forcadell called for Catalonia ‘to conquer the future’ without forgetting its past. ‘The 11th of September 1714 reminds us that we belong to a State due to imposition and by force’ but emphasised that citizens are now ‘driven by the dream, the future and the wish to achieve a better country’.

Spain’s use of justice ‘to threaten’ Catalonia’s aspirations
According to the Parliament’s President ‘some might be annoyed by Catalan citizens’ wish for freedom’ and therefore ‘try to restrict freedom of speech and the MPs’ rights, their freedom of speech and their legitimacy to pass proposals’. She made such a statement in reference to the Spanish executive’s aim toclaim criminal liability against Forcadell for having disobeyed the TC’s rulings and allowed the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote. Therefore, she called on the Catalan people ‘not to concede as a country’ and expressed her wish that everything can be discussed in the Parliament, ‘especially those issues which matter to the citizens’.

‘We have been threatened with the full weight of the Spanish justice, but Catalonia, as is proved by our history and as the National Day reminds us, won’t give up on its freedom’, she stated. ‘Catalans have massively decided to move on faster and further’ she said and considered the demonstrations on past National Days ‘both a driving force and an example of this movement’.

Forcadell compared the challenges ahead of Catalonia with those of Spain and called for Catalonia to be a new country, able to manage its own resources and to take its own decisions regarding education, the social system and the hosting of refugees, amongst other issues. Moreover, she expressed her wish to build a country ‘where the separation of powers will be respected and ministers won’t smear political parties nor citizens due to ideological reasons’, speaking in relation to recent scandals on this matter reported in Spain. She also refused the idea of being part of a country where ‘politicians could be prosecuted for putting out the ballot boxes’ (referring to the Spanish Constitutional Court’s rulings against former President, Artur Mas and other members of the Catalan executive who helped organise the 9-N non-binding consultation on independence).

The Parliament’s President emphasised that Catalan society has assumed ‘a goal and a path’ and that the politicians ‘have institutionalised it’, which proves that ‘the laws ultimately depend on the citizens’.