Catalonia's left-wing Commons political group (Catalunya en Comú) is planning to "reorient" its party strategy and tactics, formally introducing concepts such as a Catalan constitution, and a plurinational Spanish republic. The Commons - who do not support Catalan independence but believe in Catalonia's right to decide its own future - are to hold a National Council meeting on January 19th to finalize the changes.
Party spokesperson Joan Mena, told Europa Press that the commitment to a Catalan constitution continues the proposal of moving beyond the current Statute of Autonomy, which the party "has defended from the beginning".
"For us, a Catalan constitution is nothing more than a statement of intentions which a territory that shares sovereignty with other territories must have," said Mena, who also represents the group in the Spanish Congress where it is aligned with Podemos.
"Plurinational republic"
Mena explained that the Commons defend a sovereign Catalonia in the framework of a plurinational republic and rejected that the Catalan constitution included in the draft political strategy is aimed at an independent Catalonia: "No. It is for a plurinational republic. People are probably used to applying this expression in a more specific context. There are German lands that have their own constitutions and are also part of a federal republic, that of Germany. "
"We aspire to hold a constituent process because we have to change many things in Catalonia, and we want to make it compatible with a constitutional process in the Spanish state, which will give way to the plurinational republic that we support," he concluded.
An undemocratic constitution
On December 18th, 2018, the Catalan Parliament passed a motion from the pro-independence CUP party declaring that the Spanish constitution was "undemocratic and antisocial" with the support, among others, of the Commons, and Mena accepts that his party did not explain well the aspects that his party sees as undemocratic in Spain's current magna carta.
He considers that since the constitutional reform passed in 2011 by the PP and PSOE to make social spending subordinate to the reduction of deficits, "the constitution is not the same", said Mena and this is "one aspect" among others that needs to change. In addition, he emphasizes that this reform took place "under cover of darkness and treachery" and, in his opinion, it went against the needs of the popular classes and in favour of the elites.