The establishment of an Advisory Council will set in motion a process of political, social and citizen debate that will shape the Catalan proposal to resolve the political conflict with the State

This month of April, the Catalan Generalitat government will embark upon a process of debate and reflection that is to lead to a Catalan proposal for a Clarity Agreement to resolve the political conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish State, President Pere Aragonès explained on Tuesday, arguing that “the resolution of the political conflict with the State involves responding to the solid, broad and transversal majority of the citizens of Catalonia who wish to decide freely on the future of the country.”

Mr Aragonès explained that it is a “circular” process, which the Government itself will initiated and conclude, and is to be based on expert knowledge and comparative experiences. It will seek to garner the diversity and plurality of options of organized civil society and of the citizens themselves. The Government will soon announce a set of issues regarding the different democratic mechanisms that may contribute to resolving the political conflict with the State, and the characteristics they must fulfil, so that the various forums that are to participate in this process.

Firstly, an Academic Council made up of experts and headed by Pompeu Fabra University political scientist Marc Sanjaume will draw up a review that will serve to guide the political, social and citizens’ debate that is to begin before the summer and will have several facets: a panel of Catalan parties, a debate with organized civil society, and 8 citizens’ debates across the country to be held in the autumn, with 100 participants in each chosen in a draw, seeking the broadest representativeness.

The response given to the issues raised will be the basis of the Catalan proposal for the Clarity Agreement, which the Government will “bring forward and defend in the open forums for negotiation with the State Government in order to resolve the political conflict,” Mr Aragonès indicated. “We want to empower the citizens again, and we will only do so by following the most essential values of democracy. Only in this way will we manage to resolve a conflict with the State that has been going on for too long,” said the president. “The citizens of Catalonia deserve that we go from talking about problems to talking about solutions,” he concluded.