Highlights from the statement by Esquerra Republicana Secretary General Marta Rovira, exiled in Geneva (Switzerland), before the Parliament of Catalonia’s commission of inquiry into the suspension of home rule

The Secretary General of Esquerra Republicana, Marta Rovira, spoke via videoconference in the Parliament of Catalonia today for the first time since leaving for exile on March 23, 2018. Ms Rovira's appearance was to speak before the commission of inquiry into the suspension of home rule by the Spanish government by means of Article 155 of the Constitution. Here are the main quotes:

1. Operation 155 and political repression only strengthen support for the Catalan Republic as a project, the construction of a state fostering democracy, human and fundamental rights for all. What was the use of 155? To add more and more arguments endorsing independence. We don't want to live in a state with a phobia of democracy.
2. On October 1, 2017 (when the independence referendum was held) a seed was sown deep that is taking root and will bloom one day. Everything that has happened marks a point of no return, it is an irreversible agenda and they contribute to it every day.
3. Article 155 is a red button to suspend home rule whenever the Spanish government might determine it is in the general interest. The pact for the Constitution is dead and the Spanish regime of 1978, which emerged after the dictatorship, has been unmasked.
4. If they have initiated general court proceedings against independence, if they have proposed repression as a way of doing politics, we must also combat repression jointly and clearly with litigation, from a strategic perspective.
5. An honest, responsible, equitable dialogue is not possible without clearing the path of repression that makes it impassable. The road to conflict resolution is impossible without ceasing repression, without amnesty for so much injustice.
6. The State makes clearly arbitrary, unconstitutional, illegal use of the institutions, the criminal code and the prosecution of independence. And today, the independence movement is still being criminalized through political repression; it is a general proceeding.
7. Only by generating greater consensus, and leading from such consensus can we move forward. Reaching consensus means sitting down to talk again, sharing, summing and agreeing.
8. Many citizens have already seen that Spain is not of any use for social progress. Against this background, independence is the choice of the majority, for most people who want social progress, it is the future, it is an opportunity.