The Parliament Board admits to processing an initiative that calls for declaring the independence of Catalonia

A lawyer's report assures that the initiative "does not meet the conditions" required by the ILP Law

The Bureau of the Parliament has accepted for processing this Tuesday a Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) registered on February 2 by Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència, which calls for the Catalan Chamber to declare the independence of Catalonia.

This admission for processing has been successful thanks to the three votes in favor of Junts and the CUP, the abstention of the ERC representative and the vote against of the two members of the PSC in the governing body of the Parliament, parliamentary sources have reported.

Both Vox and Cs warned that they would use "all legal means" and would take the members of the Parliamentary Board to court if they accepted this parliamentary initiative for processing.

The Parliament's Bureau has also seen a report from a Parliament lawyer, a member of the ILP Control Commission, who assures that the initiative "does not meet the conditions" required by the ILP Law, although this report, which is made ex officio whenever an ILP is filed, it is not binding.

The ILP Law states that the reasons for disallowing an initiative of this type are that "it has as its object some matter over which the Generalitat has no jurisdiction", that the documentation does not meet the requirements and that some other ILP is reproduced. of equal or equivalent content during the same legislature.

The text presented by Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència states that its bill empowers the Government to negotiate the international recognition of the declaration of independence, and that in three months from its approval an "assembly of representatives of the Catalan nation will be constituted , who will work for independence to be declared".

Republican sources have reported that they have abstained because the area addressed by the initiative is not included among the assumptions contemplated by the ILP Law, and they also argue that their abstention responds to "the will to listen to all the proposals but without wanting to feed dead ends."

"We want useful tools to resolve the political conflict with the Spanish State and vote in a referendum on independence. And this ILP is not going in this direction," detailed the same sources, who recalled that they also abstained at the Table on other occasions with similar cases of ILP.

For their part, socialist sources have described the ILP as untimely and have lamented that it "persists in the errors of the past precisely at a time when Catalan society is committed to turning the page" on the independence process.

In 2019, the Parliament Bureau refused to process an ILP that also asked to declare independence - with the votes against Cs and PSC, the 'yes' of Junts and the abstention of ERC - and the same thing happened in 2022, with another ILP that asked to lift the suspension of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DUI) - fell with the vote against PSC, in favor of Junts and CUP and abstention from ERC -.

ILP PROCESS

The Board must now communicate to the ILP Control Commission the admission of the initiative for processing, a body made up of three magistrates appointed by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and three professors in constitutional law or political science and three jurists of recognized prestige, the latter six appointed by the Parliament.

The ILP promoting commission must also communicate to the Control Commission all the required documentation and the necessary documents for the collection of 50,000 signatures, which must be collected within a period of 120 business days from the date the sealed documents are returned to them.

Furthermore, the governing body of the Parliament can extend this period for collecting signatures by up to 60 business days if there are "duly justified causes", and after this time the signature sheets must be delivered to the Control Commission which, in 15 business days, must communicate it to the Parliamentary Board.

After this entire process, the parliamentary process of the ILP would begin as a bill.

THE TABLE REJECTS A REQUEST FROM VOX

In addition, this Tuesday the Board rejected processing a request from Vox to hold a general debate on the Generalitat's immigration management, since to process a request of these characteristics a request from the Government, two or more parliamentary groups or one minimum representation of 20% of the seats.

They have also received the decree of the Catalan Executive to increase by 5.4% the Income Sufficiency Indicator of Catalonia (IRSC), dedicated to people susceptible to situations of poverty and social exclusion.

The Catalan Chamber may validate this decree until March 27 and, if so, the IRSC will be defined up to 755.82 euros per month with retroactive effects from January 1, 2024.

ANOTHER QUESTIONS

Likewise, the president of ERC in the Parliament, Josep Maria Jové, has informed the Board of the non-appearance of the director of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government between 2018 and 2021, Iván Redondo, in the Commission of investigation into espionage on politicians independentists with the Pegasus and Candiru programs.

Article 68.3 of the Parliament's regulations states that if the person summoned voluntarily disregards the requirement to appear before a commission of investigation, the Board will have to report to the Public Prosecutor's Office, in order to substantiate any criminal liability that may apply.

The Parliament has also reported that it will host an exhibition on March 7 to mark Women's Day, which is celebrated on the 8th of the same month, and will compile profiles of women who have been important in the construction of Europe until March 15.