The Catalan president, Quim Torra, has said he won't take part in the ceremonies commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution as it has been used as a "projectile weapon and a cage" and it came from a transition from a Francoist regime which is still "ongoing". He confirmed the decision in a letter, in Catalan, to the speaker of the Congress, Ana Pastor, and the speaker of the Senate, Pío García Escudero, and the Spanish government's delegate to Catalonia, Teresa Cunillera.
The letter was first reported by Catalan public broadcaster TV3. It's a response to the invitation the heads of the two chambers sent the president for the celebrations of 40 years since the current democratic Spanish Constitution came into effect on 29th December 1978 following the referendum on 6th December that year.
"Currently, the Spanish Constitution is no reason for celebration in Catalonia," the letter begins. The president says that it is already years since it "became a prison for freedom of expression and for the capacity of citizens to decide".
Torra expresses regret that, instead of an open and flexible interpretation of the text, the Spanish state's use has been "restrictive, closed, old-fashioned and injustice-perpetuating", using it as a "projectile weapon and as a cage".
The president notes that Catalonia has made it clear it wants to move beyond the current constitutional framework and create an independent republic. "As president, I am and will remain faithful to this democratic and peaceful mandate," he writes.
A copy of the same letter was sent to Cunillera.