“Puzzled and surprised” by the decision made by the Electoral Commission
Prior to the Forum’s inauguration, during an informative breakfast with Catalan and Spanish press, President Mas referred to the decision taken by the Electoral Commission to suspend the institutional campaign initiated by the Government of Catalonia urging a vote to take place. "I am puzzled and surprised by the foundations that don’t allow campaigning to take place, they are saying that the Government of Catalonia can not campaign to ask for a vote", Mas declared. "For there to be a vote in a country without its government being allowed to establish the importance of voter participation is not coherent with democratic quality”, adding “individual votestook place within the Commission, with almost no precedent, meaning that there were experts on the Commission who felt extremely uncomfortable with this decision, even to the extent that they expressed dissenting opinions" in reference to the decision taken by the Electoral Commission.
"We will appeal this decision – continued the President – because, leaving content aside, whether in favour or not, the Government of Catalonia should be able run a campaign to encourage voting before an election, this is what all other governments do".
Replying to the questions posed by the press, Artur Mas also spoke about the calendar surrounding the new political process in Catalonia. In this regard, the President said that "extending the process beyond a period of four years would cast uncertainty which is not recommendable", in which case, he continued "if the conditions are met, the consultation in Catalonia must take place within the next four years, even though Parliamentary resolution allows for a two-term margin".
Regarding the European Union position on the Catalan political process, the president assured that the belief throughout the Government of Catalonia is "that currently the European Commission has not positioned itself on the matter". "Let us suppose they the political process matures; elections are held on the 25th of November and, from here on in, a constructive dialogue takes place with the Spanish Government and solutions can be found under the Spanish political framework […] if this were the scenario, everything would be on the right tracks; if not, however, I can only imagine that the EC would voice its opinion in a more official manner".