• In this week’s Executive Council meeting, the Catalan Government approved to formally request negotiations with the Spanish government on the terms and conditions for carrying out the referendum on independence.
Neus Munté
Spokeswoman Munté during the press briefing
In the press briefing following Tuesday’s Executive Council meeting, the Minister of Presidency and Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, explained that President Carles Puigdemont will send a letter in the coming days to the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to formally request negotiations on the terms and conditions for the referendum. In this regard, the Government expects a “clear answer that reflects the same civilized attitude as the Catalan government has shown”, Munté affirmed.
 
The letter, which will be sent by President Puigdemont this week, will include the Government Agreement approved on Tuesday by the Executive Council. The text of the Agreement expresses a “firm” desire to open negotiations on the celebration of a referendum that is in accordance with the Spanish government. In this respect, the negotiations regarding the terms and conditions for carrying out the referendum should be initiated “as soon as possible”.
 
The text makes reference to the parliamentary elections of 2012 and 2015 in which the “majoritarian will of the Catalan people to freely decide their political future” was expressed and highlights the “broad agreements” reached in the Catalan Parliament as a result of both outcomes. The text also refers to the manifesto signed by many prestigious jurists assuring that a referendum “is perfectly possible in a democratic state” and “if an adequate reading is made”.  Furthermore, the agreement states that the Constitution “should never be a barrier to a political solution; it cannot be the key that locks all the doors”.
 
The Government of Catalonia has expressed publically, and in accordance to the parliamentary mandate, a firm willingness to open negotiations that will allow for the holding of an agreed referendum with the Spanish government. Through this letter, and the approved Agreement, the Government of the Generalitat formally requests the Government of the Spanish state to begin as soon as possible a negotiation to define the terms and conditions of the referendum on Catalan independence.