Roger Torrent, antes de reunirse con Inés Arrimadas. Albert Garcia VÍDEO: ATLAS

Roger Torrent, presidente del Parlament, ha propuesto este lunes a Jordi Sànchez, diputado de Junts per Catalunya y en prisión desde octubre, como candidato a la presidencia de la Generalitat aunque no ha revelado la fecha del Pleno de la investidura. La candidatura del exlíder de la Asamblea Nacional Catalana se enfrenta, sin embargo, a dos objeciones: no cuenta con los apoyos suficientes para ser elegido -64 votos a favor frente a 65- y depende de que el juez del Supremo, Pablo Llarena, le permita asistir a la investidura, que la ley exige que sea presencial.

Torrent ha mantenido este lunes una nueva ronda de conversaciones con todos los grupos para proponer a Sánchez al constatar, según un comunicado, que es el candidato "que cuenta más apoyos". Ni el reglamento de la Cámara ni la ley de la Presidencia de la Generalitat obligan a Torrent a contabilizar esos avales para que la investidura siga su curso. La duda es si hoy la Mesa activará el reloj de la investidura. El independentismo suma 70 diputados -la mayoría absoluta son 68- y por ahora Sànchez solo cuenta con el “sí” de 64 parlamentarios. Junts per Catalunya y Esquerra suman juntos 66 pero ni Carles Puigdemont ni Toni Comín, huidos en Bélgica, pueden votar. La CUP ha ratificado esta mañana que se abstendrá y se ha desmarcado por completo de votar a favor de Jordi Sánchez o cualquier otro candidato que no despliegue un programa republicano. “Queremos enviar a la autonomía a la papelera de la historia”, ha afirmado Carles Riera, portavoz de los anticapitalistas.

Junts per Catalunya y Esquerra han intentado minimizar el sonoro portazo de la CUP que ha aclarado que no desea en absoluto precipitar las elecciones. De hecho, Riera ha instado a Torrent a desobedecer y a aceptar el voto delegado de Puigdemont y Comín. “Si no se atreven a realizar un pequeño acto de desobediencia ¿Cómo van a desobedecer para aplicar la república?”, se ha preguntado Riera. No parece que Torrent tenga la menor intención de desacatar al Tribunal Constitucional. Y Esquerra no tiene el menor interés en que aumente el número de sus encausados. La única cosa que está clara es que bajo ningún concepto Puigedmont y Comin renunciarán a sus escaños.

Fruit de la ronda de consultes amb els grups parlamentaris, acabo de signar la resolució proposant el diputat Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol (@jordialapreso) com a candidat pel debat d’investidura de la presidència de la Generalitat. #Parlament — Roger Torrent 🎗 (@rogertorrent) 5 de marzo de 2018

No investiremos a Sànchez ni por activa ni por pasiva", afirma Domènech, líder de Catalunya en Comú

La convocatoria del Pleno vino a acelerar las negociaciones entre Junts per Catalunya y Esquerra, que han recordado que tienen cerrado un “preacuerdo”, para seducir de nuevo a la CUP, que ha dado por interrumpidas las negociaciones al avisar de que no conversará por “migajas autonómicas”. Elsa Artadi, portavoz de Junts per Catalunya, afirmado que no le había sorprendido la decisión que tomaron el sábado los anticapitalistas de abstenerse porque los militantes de las territoriales empezaron a votar a mitad de semana el primer acuerdo de las dos fuerzas mayoritarias que no incluía aún, dijo, el “proceso constituyente”, central, ha sostenido, para todos. Por ello, Artadi ha pedido a Torrent que deje un margen de maniobra para cerrarlo y confían en presentar hoy o el miércoles un nuevo documento a los anticapitalistas. “Estamos seguros de que llegaremos a tiempo”, ha aventurado.

Pese a sus aparentes vaivenes, Esquerra, por boca de Marta Rovira, su secretaria general, también ha dado su apoyo a Jordi Sànchez y ha defendido que el diputado encaja en su idea de que lidere un Gobierno efectivo aunque esté en prisión. “Si es investido, estamos seguros de que podrá presidirlo”, afirmó. La preferencia de ERC, en cualquier caso, no es esa porque su apuesta siempre ha sido la de un candidato que no esté en la cárcel o en el extranjero. Su apuesta es ir paso a paso y aguardar la decisión que tome el juez del Supremo. Sànchez no está condenado y con la ley en la mano nada le impide ser elegido. “Vamos a intensificar los esfuerzos para que las fuerzas republicanas lleguen a un acuerdo”, ha afirmado Rovira excluyendo de entre ellas a Catalunya en Comú. Solo las reconocen como tales a las que defienden la legitimidad del referéndum del 1 de octubre.

Esto es una farsa. Es indignante. Los independentistas solo quieren el lío", afirma Inés Arrimadas

La oposición en bloque ha desestimado la propuesta de Jordi Sànchez. Xavier Domènech, presidente del grupo de los comunes, trasladó a Torrent que no apoyarán la candidatura “ni por activa ni por pasiva”, es decir, que descartan por completo la abstención. Los comunes se comprometieron en campaña electoral a no votar a favor de un candidato de Junts per Catalunya así como tampoco de Ciudadanos. “Tiene todo el derecho pero sería bueno que todo el mundo ponga las cartas encima de la mesa”, ha dicho en alusión a que quizá el independentismo tiene en la recámara otro candidato si la propuesta de Sànchez no prospera. El diputado no ha entrado ni a valorar si cambiaría de voto si el aspirante fuera de ERC: “Es que eso no está ni el horizonte. El pacto entre Junts per Catalunya y ERC está sellado”. Indignada, Inés Arrimadas, líder de la oposición, ha consideró la candidatura "una farsa". "No la quieren ni ellos. Solo el lío y el enfrentamiento".</s>Early on January 30, Roger Torrent, speaker of the Catalan parliament that was returned at the December 21 elections, suspended that day’s session. It had been set down to elect outgoing president Carles Puigdemont as head of the new Catalan government.

The decision of Torrent, a leading member of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), came after the Spanish Constitutional Court had ruled two days earlier that the investiture of Puigdemont, in exile in Brussels, could not take place

Moreover, as someone facing charges of “rebellion” and “sedition” he would have to get the permission of Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena—author of the preventive detention of other Catalan MPs—to actually attend the investiture session.

Finally, if Torrent and the Catalan parliament’s speakership panel went ahead with the investiture session in violation of these conditions they would incur legal sanctions. In the words of the Constitutional Court’s ruling:

Torrent justified his decision to suspend the January 30 session on the grounds that he wanted to ensure a “real investiture” for Puigdemont.

If January 30 had been a normal investiture session, Puigdemont’s election would have been a formality. As leader of the party Together For Catalonia (JxCat) that had won the most seats within the 70-seat pro-independence majority, he had the support of the other pro-independence forces: the centre-left ERC and the anti-capitalist People’s Unity List (CUP). He also faced no rival from the 57-seat unionist minority of Citizens, the People’s Party (PP) and the Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC).

Even in the extraordinary situation of detention and exile for eight Catalan MPs and the Spanish government’s October 27 sacking of the Catalan government under article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, Puigdemont was still sure of a 68-vote majority in the 135-seat chamber. Two of the jailed MPs—detained outgoing vice-president Oriol Junqueras (ERC) and former Catalan National Assembly (ANC) leader Jordi Sànchez (JxCat)—would still able to votewhile four others had already declined their accreditation as MPs and had been replaced by the next candidates on the JxCat and ERC tickets.

Only one issue remained unresolved: would Puigdemont be able to deliver his investiture address by video link from his Brussels exile or have it delivered for him by another MP? Or would he try to get back into the Catalan parliament by stealth?

On January 15, the legal counsel of the Catalan parliament delivered a majority opinion against investiture, but the final word lay with the speakership panel, on which JxCat and ERC have a four-three majority. If the panel had been free to rule that Puigdemont could be invested, then he would be, even though the unionist parties said they would immediately appeal such a decision to the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The prospect of Puigdemont—symbol of Catalonia’s independence struggle—returning as head of government panicked all wings of the Spanish establishment, beginning with the PP administration of prime minister Mariano Rajoy but including the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the new-right Citizens.

If the Catalan parliament backed Puigdemont as president how was he to be removed? On what grounds could Spanish King Felipe, embodiment of Spanish state rejection of the “illegality” of the Catalans’ cause, formally refuse recognition of their parliament’s decision? Could the ongoing support of the European institutions for Spain’s handling of its Catalan headache be guaranteed in such a situation?

The more the Rajoy government looked at the issue, the clearer it became that it had no choice: it had to mobilise the powers of the state to block the investiture of the man it was deriding as a “political zombie” even as it obsessed over how to exorcise him. Former PSOE leader and minister Alfredo Rubalcaba expressed this position in a January 26 interview on radio Onda Zero: “Puigdemont cannot be president and what we are discussing now is how to stop that at the lowest cost.”

To prevent the “zombie” returning by stealth, interior minister Jose Ignacio Zoido had the Civil Guard and Spanish National Police set up road blocks, check car boots, keep minor airports under surveillance and scour the sewers under the Catalan parliament. Civil Guard teams even entered French territory without permission to conduct searches.

On January 25, Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, in charge of operations in Catalonia, announced that she was reversing the Rajoy government’s usual approach of waiting for the Catalan parliament to act before appealing decisions. It would instead seek the endorsement of Spain’s highest legal consultative body, the Council of State, for its support for a preventive injunction against Puigdemont’s investiture from the Constitutional Court, on the grounds that he was an “outlaw” lacking “liberty of movement”.

Yet, much to the horror of Rajoy and company, the Council of State recommended that they not go ahead with the injunction because it had no solid legal basis. If upheld by the Constitutional Court, that body would be taking upon itself the right to decide which elected candidates a parliament could and couldn’t appoint to positions of officethey had been elected and despite no objection having being made against them as candidates—a clear case of violating democratic rights and even perverting the course of justice.

However, the Rajoy government ignored this advice and ploughed ahead with its appeal, with Saenz de Santamaria being reported as ringing up various Constitutional Court members to stress the vital importance of their decision.

According to media reports, the twelve-member court was split seven-five on whether to admit the appeal. To avoid further increasing the Rajoy government’s discomfort with a split ruling the court decided to postpone a decision for ten days—“to decide upon the admissibility of the appeal”—while at the same time spelling out the conditions on which Puigdemont’s investiture could theoretically still go ahead.

The Constitutional Court thus gave the Rajoy government what it wanted while dodging a decision on its legal application: Puigdemont could attend the investiture and end up in jail or stay in Belgium and make any investiture illegal. On January 30, the court rejected a JxCat appeal against its ruling while one of the PP’s most provocative spokespeople, Raphael Hernando, reminded speaker Torrent that “he has two children so knows what he has to deal with.”

The court’s decision, already criticised by numerous Spanish jurists (see here for comment by Barcelona law professor Ferran Requejo), will doubtless be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, where its violation of the separation of powers and the sovereignty of the Catalan parliament will be laid bare. Not that Rajoy and Saenz de Santamaria care: their game is to force the pro-independence bloc to abandon Puigdemont and cop the humiliation of having Madrid determine who can and can’t be a candidate for president of Catalonia, irrespective of the vote of the Catalan people.

To close any remaining loopholes, on February 1 Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català announced that the Rajoy government would make use of legislation preventing anyone simplyfor “rebellion” from standing for public office.

At the same time, all the voices of Spanish centralism are competing to see who can produce the most “trenchant” characterisation of the man who won most support within the Catalan independence bloc on December 21. Some examples:

Even Elisenda Alemany, spokesperson of the pro-sovereignty Catalonia Together-Podemos group in the Catalan parliament, supports Puigdemont stepping aside (February 6) if this is the price of recovering Catalan self-rule:

Torrent’s decision to suspend the investiture, taken without consultation of the other pro-independence parties and protested by them, shows that Madrid’s approach of permanently intensifying intimidation is starting to have some success.

It has increased tensions between JxCat and an ERC convinced that the most important priority is to recover Catalan self-government, even at the cost of dropping Puigdemont, as ERC MP in the Spanish parliament Joan Tardà suggested in a January 28interview.

On the evening of January 30, Puigdemont issued a video statement in which he said that Torrent’s decision “had to be respected”, but that “democracy cannot be adjourned or suspended”. For their part, the unionist parties and Catalonia Together-Podemos supported the speaker’s decision.

On the day, a large demonstration outside the Catalan parliament, called by the mass pro-independence organisations ANC and Òmnium Cultural and supported by the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), demanded that the investiture go ahead. At one point, a group of demonstrators, led by some CDRs, broke through police lines in an attempt to get into the parliament building. Inside, the four CUP MPs occupied their places in protest against the suspension of the session.

On January 31, at a public meeting in Louvain, a text message from Puigdemont on the phone of exiled health minister Toni Comín (ERC) was surreptitiously photographed over his shoulder by Spanish channel Tele 5. It read in part:

Puigdemont later tweeted in response to the revelation of this text:

On the same day, the JxCat parliamentary caucus reaffirmed its support for Puigdemont’s candidacy, as did the CUP and ERC. Negotiations, which at the time of writing (February 7) are ongoing, recommenced in search of a formula that would assert the legitimacy of Puigdemont as president while allowing an effective government to form.

The events of January 30 provoked a flurry of reflection and position-taking by all parts of the independence movement.

The day afterwards, the ANC national secretariat called for the unity of the pro-independence majority in support of investing an agreed candidate, affirmed that the ANC would only mobilise outside the Catalan parliament in support of a real investiture, and committed to “returning to the streets if we see that the [Spanish] state or its courts paralyses the investiture.”

Catalan language and culture association Òmnium Cultural called on the pro-independence parties:

Left currents affiliated to the CUP, such as Poble Lliure (“Free People”) and left pro-independence youth organisation Arran, each in their own way saw the suspension of the investiture as marking a watershed in the evolution of the independence movement and its component parts (see live blog for their full statements).

The basic problem weighing on the independence movement is the need to find an agreed strategy for disobedience against a Spanish state that is moving every piece at its disposal—the courts, the media, the monarchy and its loyal backers in the European Commission—to demoralise and tame the Catalan process. This is all the more so because the Spanish government is moving to invalidate the vote of MPs facing charges, killing off the pro-independence majority while simultaneously trying to frighten it with the prospect of another election.

One thing seems certain as the negotiations between the pro-independence parties continue: only persistent, patient and organised resistance by the whole of the pro-independence bloc—determined to assert the sovereignty of the Catalan parliament within the institution itself and in the streets—will ensure that the result of the December 21 election stands.</s>Catalonia's parliament will convene next Monday to vote on the region's new leader, assembly speaker Roger Torrent said on Tuesday, though it is unclear whether the candidate put forward by secessionist parties will be elected or not.

MADRID: Catalonia's parliament will convene next Monday to vote on the region's new leader, assembly speaker Roger Torrent said on Tuesday, though it is unclear whether the candidate put forward by secessionist parties will be elected or not.

Jordi Sanchez is currently in jail as he awaits trial on charges of rebellion and sedition over Catalonia's illegal referendum and unilateral declaration of independence from Spain last October.

The former leader of the pro-independence civic group Asamblea Nacional Catalana asked the judge handling his case on Tuesday for permission to leave prison to attend Monday's parliamentary session in Barcelona. It was unclear whether the judge will accept the request.

With some of the secessionist leaders in self-imposed exile in Brussels and unable to cast their ballot, and small far-left party CUP saying it would abstain, Sanchez may not attract enough votes. That would trigger a new round of consultations and a further vote in the following days or weeks.

Catalonia's independence figurehead, Carles Puigdemont, pulled back on March 1 from a bid for a second term as regional leader. He fled to Belgium after the unilateral declaration of independence and would likely be arrested if he returned to Spain to face charges of sedition and rebellion.

Spain's central government took control of the affluent northeastern region and called a snap election there after a majority of Catalan lawmakers voted for secession on Oct. 27.

The Dec. 21 election returned majority control to pro-independence parties, whose members have since faced court action or have fled abroad to avoid prosecution for their role in the movement, which goes against Spain's constitution.

Spain's central government in Madrid has said it will keep Catalonia under direct rule if secessionist parties elected a candidate who was under judicial investigation.

The number of Catalans in favour of independence from Spain has fallen to a four-year low, according to a survey published on Friday.</s>MADRID (AP) — Catalonia's parliament will vote next week on whether to elect a jailed separatist leader as the region's new president, as part of an ongoing effort to gain independence from Spain.

Parliamentary speaker Roger Torrent on Tuesday convened the plenary session in Barcelona for March 12, when Catalan lawmakers will vote on whether to make Jordi Sanchez their regional government's leader.

Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's ex-leader who fled to Brussels to escape arrest, announced last week that he was temporarily withdrawing his bid to get his old job back and proposed Sanchez — his No. 2 in the Together for Catalonia party — in his place.

The vote is the latest push by Catalan separatists to advance their attempt break away from Spain — an effort the central government in Madrid has thwarted in the courts. The Spanish Constitution says Spain is "indivisible," but the standoff has brought the country's worst political crisis in decades and it shows no signs of ending.

Sanchez, a former president of a prominent secessionist civic group called Catalan National Assembly who was elected to parliament last December, has been held in a prison near Madrid since October.

He is detained while a judge investigates whether he orchestrated protests that hindered authorities' attempt to halt preparations for a banned Catalan independence referendum on Oct. 1.

Sanchez has asked a judge to let him attend the plenary session. A letter from his lawyers to the Supreme Court, published Tuesday, argues that denying him permission to travel would be denying his personal rights and those of people who voted in December.

Next Monday, Sanchez would require a majority of parliamentary votes — 68 lawmakers — to be elected in a first round of voting. If he falls short of that number, in a vote 48 hours later he would require more votes for him than against him to be elected.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Sanchez would have enough support to take office.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Catalan lawmakers proposed a separatist leader currently detained over Spain's crackdown on Catalonia's secession drive as a candidate for president of the region, its parliament said on Monday.

The speaker of the separatist-controlled regional parliament, Roger Torrent, formally proposed Jordi Sanchez, 53, as a candidate, the body said in a statement.

Sanchez is considered to have little chance of taking up the post since he is remanded in custody pending accusations of sedition over last year's Catalan independence crisis.

Sanchez's name was put forward after the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is in exile in Belgium, pulled out last week in an attempt to unblock the political impasse.

In Puigdemont's absence, the parliament said Sanchez was the candidate "who has the most support".

Sanchez is the former head of the Catalan National Assembly, a powerful pro-independence civil group.

The separatists' push for independence plunged Spain into political crisis last year.

The Spanish government imposed direct rule over the region on October 27 after the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence.

Direct rule is due to last until the region elects a new president. Madrid has vowed to resist any bid to break the region away from Spain.</s>The speaker of the Catalan parliament said Monday that the parties in favor of independence from Spain will nominate a jailed nationalist lawmaker to lead the regional government.

Speaker Roger Torrent had originally proposed restoring the regional president ousted by Madrid last October after an abortive push for secession, Carles Puigdemont.

But last Thursday, Puigdemont said from self-imposed exile in Belgium that he was "provisionally" withdrawing his candidacy in favor of Jordi Sanchez.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium to escape arrest on the same charges faced by Sanchez and other Catalan politicians, said he was stepping back in the interest of seeing regional governing institutions "restored."

The northeastern region has been ruled directly from Madrid since late October.

Sanchez is No. 2 to Puigdemont in the hierarchy of the center-right JxCat party, the largest element in the pro-independence coalition.

Spain's Constitutional Court ruled that Puigdemont could not stand for the regional presidency from outside Catalonia, while the government said he would be arrested immediately if he returned.

While Sanchez is in Spain, to become Catalonia's president he would need the approval of Pablo Llarena - the Supreme Court judge leading the sedition investigation against Puigdemont - to attend the investiture debate in the region's Parliament.

Sanchez has been held in preventive detention since Oct. 16 on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for his part in the independence bid. Llarena has thus far rejected all petitions to temporarily release him from pre-trial detention.

Despite that obstacle, Torrent said Sanchez has the most support among lawmakers from the JxCat and the center-left ERC.

Yet the third party in the nationalist coalition, the leftist CUP, said that its four members would not vote for Sanchez as regional president, dooming the nomination to failure.

The CUP is asking Torrent for a "radically different proposal," party spokesman Carles Riera said Monday.

JxCat spokeswoman Elsa Artadi said she planned to offer to include some of the CUP's agenda in the governing program in exchange for their supporting Sanchez as president.

The Catalan nationalist coalition maintains that Madrid's removal of the Puigdemont administration was illegal and reaffirms the validity of the banned Oct. 1 independence referendum.

Weeks after that plebiscite was held, the Catalan government on Oct. 27 unilaterally declared independence from Spain.

In response, the Spanish Senate voted to trigger Article 155 of the constitution, which saw the region's autonomy reeled back and its parliament dissolved.

Three pro-independence Catalan parties then won a slim majority in the 135-seat Parliament when new regional elections were held on Dec. 21.</s>Catalonia's parliament is to vote next week on whether to elect a jailed separatist leader as the region's new president, as part of an ongoing effort to gain independence from Spain.

Parliament speaker Roger Torrent convened the plenary session in Barcelona for March 12, when Catalan lawmakers will vote on whether to make Jordi Sanchez their regional government's leader.

Sanchez, a former president of a prominent secessionist civic group called Catalan National Assembly who was elected to parliament last December, has been held in a prison near Madrid since October.

He is detained while a judge investigates whether he orchestrated protests that hindered authorities' attempt to halt preparations for a banned Catalan independence referendum on Oct. 1.

Sanchez has asked a judge to let him attend the plenary session.</s>Jordi Sanchez of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) is seen upon his arrival to appear before a judge at Spain’s High Court in Madrid October 6, 2017. — Reuters picBARCELONA, March 6 — Catalonia’s parliament will convene on March 12 to appoint a new regional president, with jailed separatist Jordi Sanchez the only candidate, the assembly said today.

In a statement, the separatist-controlled parliament said its speaker Roger Torrent had this morning officially convened the session.

Sanchez, the former head of the Catalan National Assembly, a powerful pro-independence civil group, is considered to have little chance of taking up the post since he is remanded in custody pending accusations of sedition over last year’s secession bid.

His name was put forward after former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who had initially been picked as candidate to lead the region again after December regional polls but is in exile in Belgium, pulled out last week.

Today, Sanchez’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court, which is overseeing his case, to let him out of prison to go to parliament next week for the official appointment.

But even if a judge allows him out, he is not assured of getting enough votes to see him through.

He has the support of two separatist groupings which together have 66 lawmakers out of 135. The small, separatist CUP party, which has four seats, has refused to back him and will abstain.

Of the 66 though, Puigdemont and another separatist lawmaker are in Belgium, which means that in theory they cannot take part in parliamentary votes, reducing the number of lawmakers in support of Sanchez to 64.

The parties that are against independence, meanwhile, have a total of 65 lawmakers combined, which means they could block Sanchez’s appointment.

The separatists’ push for independence plunged Spain into political crisis last year.

The Spanish government imposed direct rule over the region on October 27 after the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence.

Direct rule is due to last until the region elects a new president. Madrid has vowed to resist any bid to break the region away from Spain. — AFP
The Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, proposes Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol as a candidate for President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, but he has been preventively jailed since 16 October 2017, accused of sedition. This happens after Carles Puigdemont resigns as a possible candidate, who, if elected, would have been a symbolic president with a symbolic government in Brussels. The candidacy of Sànchez also reportedly lacks one seat for a majority.