This morning the President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, together with the Vice-president and Minister of the Economy and Finance, Oriol Junqueras, presided over the Compromís amb el Referèndum event to reaffirm the Executive’s commitment to holding a binding referendum on Catalan independence.

 

The symbolic event was held at the Palau de la Generalitat’s Orange-Tree Courtyard and involved the signing by members of the Executive Council of a manifesto entitled The Government of Catalonia’s commitment to the referendum, which states that the Government “reiterates, as a whole, its commitment to hold a referendum that must become the practical exercise of an inalienable right: the right to self-determination”.

 

In this regard, the President insisted that the Government will “organize, call, and celebrate” the referendum and apply its results, despite the Spanish state’s “threats and attempts to confine Catalonia’s self-government”. “This is what the vast majority of Catalans are asking the Executive to do”, he added.  

 

The event began with a reading of the manifesto by the director of the Institution of Catalan Letters, Laura Borràs followed by the signatures of all the members of Government as well as the Administration’s Secretaries and Director-Generals. Altogether the document received close to 200 signatures.

 

During his intervention, President Puigdemont also noted the pluralistic and legitimate nature of the democratic aspiration and assured that the vote “is being prepared by many hands”.

 

In his opening remarks, Vice-president Junqueras noted that the objective of the event is to “swear together and to each other” that the entire Government “will do whatever we need to do so that the citizens of Catalonia can participate in, can celebrate, and can win this referendum”. “This is not only the commitment of the executive but that of the Parliament’s majority”, which emerged from the 2015 Catalan elections, and in compliance with a “mandate which is perfectly legitimate and legal”, he added.

 

The Vice-president also stated that institutions across the country, including the municipal governments and civil society, are in favour of holding the referendum and affirmed that “the coordination of all these groups” is essential “to turn commitment into reality”.