This morning, the President of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, reaffirmed his commitment to submitting himself to a vote of confidence and announced that such vote will take place on September 28. “This will be the date to have a peaceful debate, separate from other considerations, and to build up the confidence in Parliament to complete the political process that was asked of us on the 27S”, he explained to Catalan MPs in today’s parliamentary session.

 

According to Puigdemont, his motives for the vote “remain intact, and therefore, not only will I maintain it, but I believe the vote remains perfectly warranted by a question of political courage”. “Courage”, he explained, that has “a democratic basis” because “when a Government loses its parliamentary majority on such an important issue such as the budget, it must face [this loss] and understand that the problem must be resolved politically”.

 

“The motion of confidence will allow us to see if Parliament wishes to ratify or withdraw the necessary support this Government needs to fulfil its duty -which is to bring the country at the gates of independence”, Puigdemont affirmed.  “To do this it needs tools, laws, budget and parliamentary stability”, he added.       

 

Another issue addressed in today’s session was regarding the vote on the conclusions of the Constitutive Process Committee. In his answer to a question posed by the People’s Party (PP) on the matter, the President asserted that “an elected Parliament must be able to take decisions freely, democratically and in accordance with the people’s mandate”. For this reason, Parliament’s approval of the conclusions “is not democratically anomalous, but perfectly normal”. “What the citizens decide in a democratic, free and peaceful way should be respected”, he asserted.