The President of the Catalan Government, Pere Aragonès, has made this midday a call to build "a great alliance between institutions, parties, civil society and citizens in defense of amnesty and self-determination", as a necessary step to "overcome the stage of judicialization and repression suffered by Catalonia and return to politics". For the head of the Executive, this alliance must be translated into a great "National Agreement for Amnesty and Self-Determination", which recovers the spirit of the National Pact for the Right to Decide and the National Pact for the referendum, and "which gives shape to a political proposal for Catalonia to resolve the conflict with the Spanish state that brings together all the political and social support".

The head of the Government, who has appeared at his own request before the Parliament to discuss how to de-judicialize the political conflict, has defended that "we will seek the complicity of all with the commitment that Catalonia vote on its political future in a referendum". And he added: "we want an inclusive agreement and the referendum is an inclusive proposal, the most inclusive, because it does not force anyone to give up their approaches and forces us all to convince the citizens  of Catalonia of what is the best option for the future of the country".

And in this same sense, Pere Aragonès has announced that to begin to shape this great alliance "we will soon call the parties that supported the investiture with the aim of presenting the agreement before the next meeting of the negotiating table".

Report of the Council of Europe

"It is time to give way to politics, as the Council of Europe is leading us", the president has claimed, referring to the opinion of the European body that asks Spain to put an end to repression, to withdraw extradition demands against exiles and exiles and to stop the persecution of political representatives and public servants in the exercise of their mandate. "The Council of Europe says that we had the right to ask about the independence of Catalonia and that violence was not used to organize the referendum and, therefore, that the convictions for sedition are unjust", Aragonès stressed. And he demanded that Spain "urgently comply" with these recommendations of Europe "that invites us to open a new stage".

The president insisted in his speech that, although "pardons are a relief for all citizens and recognize that the convictions were unjust, they do not resolve the conflict and do not end the repression and judicialization". And he gave as an example the actions of the Court of Auditors, "an ideological court that persecutes us for what we think and not for what we have done". For this reason, the President explained, "in the face of this abuse and arbitrariness of the Court of Auditors, the Catalan Government offers security to public servants and we guarantee to be able to freely exercise the competencies of our government", among which, he said, there is External Action.

The head of the Government, despite recognizing that "things have begun to move", and here he framed the freedom of political prisoners, the opinion of the Council of Europe, and that the negotiation table has been unblocked, "it is clear that the repression does not stop and the general cause against independence is still active and a way out must be found". And he reiterated: "The end of the repression goes through amnesty and not through pardons".

Negotiating table

During his speech, the President also referred to the agreement with President Pedro Sánchez to "reactivate without further delay the work of the Negotiating Table", and announced that in the coming weeks the respective teams will agree on a working methodology and the agenda for the meeting, to be held the week of September 13^th in Barcelona.

For the head of the Executive, this space for negotiation "from Government to Government" must reaffirm "the existence of a conflict between Spain and Catalonia, which must be resolved politically through dialogue, negotiation, and finally an agreement that must have the endorsement of the citizens of Catalonia through the vote". And he assured that in this Table, "the Catalan government will defend amnesty and self-determination. We will do so out of democratic convictions. We will do it because we collect the will of the citizens of Catalonia expressed at the polls. And we will do it now, with even more conviction, because we have arguments that come from one of the main European institutions".

Call for responsibility to curb the new Covid wave

The President began his appearance before the Chamber by expressing his concern about the evolution of Covidien-19. "We are not doing well", said the head of the Government, and urged to "stop the new wave", because, he said, "it threatens with overpressures the health system and puts at risk the social and economic recovery that has cost so much to recover".

Pere Aragonès made a "new call for responsibility", because stopping this new wave "depends largely on all of us". The president has asked that "we all act responsibly, with common sense and reasonableness", to avoid, he explained, "having to take more steps backwards that nobody wants to do but that if circumstances force us, as has happened in the case of nightlife, we will undoubtedly do to preserve the health of all citizens".