2nd International Conference “Building a New State"

On Friday October 5th, Sovereignty and Justice, will celebrate the 2nd International Conference “Building a New State 2012”, which will have the special collaboration and the sponsorship of Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Help Catalonia, among others. This event, provided with an ambitious program, will be held during a whole day, with morning and evening sessions. Moreover, this year we are going to bring five international experts along, coming from Quebec, Scotland, Basque Region and Slovenia. There will also be four prominent personalities from the Catalan academic field and three well known moderators. The scene of this event will be divided into two different and suggestive places: Vila Casas Foundation, for the morning session (invitation will be required) and The Pedrera (Famous architect Antoni Gaudi’s building) for the evening session (free entrance). The Conference will be held in both Catalan and English, although there will be available simultaneous translation service for who may need it.

Latest opinion research studies, promoted by the Catalan Government, have shown relevant changes: if nowadays there was a referendum about Catalonia Independence, 51% of the Catalan citizens would vote in favour for the Independence. Considering that the social majority, who is claiming for an independent State, is growing fast, as a society, we do need to know what a referendum for independence means and much more we need to discuss about previous experiences carried out in liberal democratic scenes, in order to be able to undertake a comparative politics exercise to be aware of our future shot!

The evening session, which is taking place at the Pedrera Auditorium, will begin at four o’clock in the afternoon with a first round table under the name of “The way out for referendum in liberal democracies”. It has a deluxe team of speakers: Mr. Stephen Tierney, Head of Department of Constitutional Law at University of Edinburgh and the worldwide highest specialist in matters of referendums; Mr. Daniel Turp, politician and Head of Department of International Law at Mont-real University; and Mr. Juan José Ibatrretxe, the former President of the Basque Region (Lehendakari). We want to think about which is the meaning of “the right to decide” and “the referendums” in XXI century democracies; about how Scottish society is getting ready for its referendum in autumn of 2014; whether the difficulties to bring about the right scene to make possible a third plebiscite in Quebec could give us some good lessons in order to know if a referendum is convenient only in the case the results are going to be favourable, and finally we want to consider in retrospective, the initiative of referendum hold by the Mr. Ibatrretxe programed for 2008, related with the Politic Statues of the Basque Region, which was approved by its Parliament but afterwards declared unconstitutional according to the Spanish Constitutional Court. Mrs. Mònica Terribes, journalist and former Manager of the Catalan Television, will moderate the round table.

In December 1989, when the communist system of Slovenia authorized the pluralism in politics, a new coalition emerged, ideologically transversal, it was called “Demos”. When the first free elections took place in April 1990, this coalition managed to assume the Government role under the Presidency of Mr. Lojze Peterle, christian democratic. This coalition leaded the process of democratization of the country, liberalizing the public life and implementing the bases for a market economy. Nevertheless, the most remarkable fact was the announcement of a plebiscite about independence on the 23rd of December 1990 and the following declaration of independence on the 25th of June 1991. Mr. Joze Mencinger, renowned economist and lawyer, was one of the main characters in this significant period for Slovenia, besides he became the Vice-President of Economics in the first Slovenian democratic government. Under the title of “The transition of Slovenia to Independence: a successful story”, we will review the key points that made this fact a remarkable experience, thanks to an strategy of gradualness, pragmatism and ability of adaptation, adopted by the political elites leading the process of secession. We have asked Mrs. Ana Stantic, Slovenian jurist working in London, who had presented the presentation about liquidating actives and passives in succession of States in last year 1st Conference, to preface the dissertation of Mr. Mencinger.

The second round table will be held under the name of “Catalonia, way to independence”. We will analyse nowadays the national Spanish situation from several perspectives: economically (Mrs. Elisenda Paluzie and Mr. Jordi Galí), politically (Mr. Ferran Requejo) and sociologically (Mr. Salvador Cardús). We will also value the possible scenarios in our future according to the events taking place. Mr. Quim Torra, a well-known publisher, will moderate this round table.

The morning session, starting at 10 o’clock, is only addressed to a limited group of guests and it will take place at the Volart Auditorium of Vila Casas Foundation. It will be held under the format of workshop – breakfast, being the matter of discussion “referendum for independence” and Mr. Ricard Gené, lawyer, will moderate it. Professors Mr Stephen Tierney and Mr. Daniel Turp, will carry out the English version.