The Catalan Foreign Affairs Minister, Raül Romeva, has said that the Catalan government has everything ready for the 1st October referendum. The remarks came in an interview with news channel France24. "Everything is ready; we have the electoral roll, we have the ballot boxes, we have everything necessary," he said. He added that the law and necessary decrees to carry out the referendum have been passed by the Parliament and that the Catalan government has organised electoral processes before. "We're absolutely convinced that the people will respond," he said.
Romeva assured that the referendum is completely legal, and that the Spanish Constitution "doesn't ban" the 1st October vote, rather that the Spanish government is making a "political interpretation" of the text. "It's not a legal problem, it's a political one," he argued. The minister remarked that the Catalan government and the pro-independence parties have asked "some twenty times" for a referendum negotiated with Spain, but that's not been accepted.
The presenter asked whether Catalonia wants to become independent to no longer have to pay for the "poorest provinces [sic]" which Romeva strongly denied. "There are many reasons... to do with powers, to do with culture, to do with investments and the management of the economy, there are a variety of reasons," he explained. He also confirmed that Catalonia wants to remain in the EU.