Pere Aragonès defended the right to self-determination at a conference in Madrid and demanded that the PSOE and Podemos should not delay the negotiation process: “It is unlikely there will be a second chance.”

The President of Catalonia’s Generalitat government Pere Aragonès defended the right to self-determination through a referendum at a conference in Madrid: “The State must dare to win a referendum democratically, and it must also dare to lose.” The president also demanded that the PSOE and Podemos should not delay the negotiation process to resolve the political conflict, and warned them that “It is unlikely there will be a second chance.”

During the conference at the Club Siglo XXI, the president claimed that “deciding one’s own future is what advanced democracies do, and that is the path we must take: the referendum is inevitable.” A referendum and amnesty for the victims of legal reprisal are the two proposals from the Catalan side of the negotiating table, “a broad consensus in the country”, but Mr Aragonès pointed out that the proposal of the State is still to be unveiled: “What proposal does the State have for Catalonia? Are there any? It’s time they made one.” “Playing the waiting game and delaying the negotiation is not an option,” he added.

In Catalonia there is no language conflict at a social level; what there is are the consequences of a systematic political campaign against the Catalan education system

Pere Aragonès President of Catalonia's Generalitat government

The president also focused on the attacks on the Catalan language: “In Catalonia there is no language conflict at a social level; what there is are the consequences of a systematic political campaign against the Catalan education system with the aim of fracturing Catalan society and using anti-Catalanism to add votes in the rest of Spain.” “I want to make it very clear: do not play around with Catalan in schools,” he said.

He likewise wanted to make it clear that “not anything goes against independence,” and in reference to the terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017: “The victims of the attacks deserve to know the whole truth, to get to the bottom of the matter and clarify responsibilities. It is an inescapable democratic demand,” he said after former police-chief Villarejo’s controversial declarations regarding Spanish intelligence’s involvement.

Finally, the president evoked his left-wing and republican nature by referring to the crisis caused by Covid-19: “In the face of the social, economic and emotional crisis we are going through, there is only one way, the Republican solution, focusing on people, improving their quality of life and offering greater opportunities, which concerns the generation of prosperity and welfare for our entire society and with a transformative determination.” A solution that also involves “decisively strengthening public services,” he concluded.