The proclamation of the Catalan Republic is back with the Catalan Parliament's Board. The chamber's governing body has accepted the amendments proposed by CUP to reiterate last year's declaration of independence for consideration. This will now have to be debated in tomorrow's plenary session. JxCat and ERC have voted in favour of accepting to consider the amendments, despite a warning from chamber's lawyers that they could be contradicting verdicts and orders given by the Constitutional Court during the last legislature. Ciutadans and PSC have already announced they will ask for reconsideration.
Yesterday, Tuesday, CUP registered their proposed amendments to JxCat's motion to restore president Carles Puigdemont. This resolution is to be the first step before calling an investiture debate and forming a new government.
The first amendment would add language saying that "stands by and reiterates the declaration of independence and the proclamation of Catalonia as an independent state in the form of a republic which were voted on and passed on 27th October 2017". The second, of fifteen in total, defends the Parliament as the expression of the "democratic self-determination referendum on 1st October 2017".
During today's Board meeting, both the Parliament's secretary general, Xavier Muro, and its head lawyer, Antoni Bayona, wanted to make it clear that CUP's amendments could contradict verdicts and orders from the Constitutional Court.
The second deputy speaker, José María Espejo Saavedra (Ciutadans), noted that, although some of the Board's members haven't been explicitly warned, as they weren't part of the last legislature, the court's verdicts have to be complied with.
Both Ciutadans and PSC plan to present requests to reconsider the decision, which will force a new meeting of the Board, then of the Board of Spokespeople, then of the Board again before the plenary session, planned for 10am tomorrow. Espejo also warned that the Board will have to meet again if some transaction is carried out relating to the amendments in response to the court's sentences. PP didn't attend the meeting. They have the right to attend such meetings even if they have no vote.
For JxCat, first deputy speaker Josep Costa rejected the idea that role of the Board's members is to censure parliamentary activity and said that its current members shouldn't be concerned with resolutions from the previous legislature. That was the argument wielded by Alba Vergés (ERC) who emphasised that, as members of the Board, they have to defend the deputies' rights and cannot restrict political debate.
With the appearance of this new point of conflict, through the morning negotiations between JxCat, ERC and CUP were focused on reaching agreement over the proposed amendments and the possible transactions to agree a consensus text. Discussions are taking place with the understanding that, as Ciutadans have warned, if they result in a new text, a new Board meeting will be needed.