Declaration of Sovereignty of the Catalan People

This proposal has been drafted in agreement between the governing Convergència i Unió (CiU) coalition and the main opposition party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), and is to be negotiated with the other parties which have expressed their defence of the right to decide of the people of Catalonia, namely Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC), Iniciativa per Catalunya (ICV-EUiA) and Candidatura Unitaria Popular (CUP).

Motion for a resolution of approval of a Declaration of Sovereignty of the Catalan People

Preamble

The people of Catalonia, throughout its history, has expressed democratically its will to govern itself, with the aim of administering its political power, its public finances, of achieving recognition of its own culture and its collective identity, its own language, and guaranteeing the exercise of the rights of its citizens, with the objective of improving collective welfare and equal opportunities.

With this in consideration, after the protracted period of Gen. Franco's dictatorship with the transition of the Spanish State to democracy, an autonomous model was projected. In recent years, in the course of deepening democracy, a majority of Catalan political forces and social measures have driven transformation of the policy and legal framework, the most recent concretion of which was the reform process of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia initiated by Parliament in 2005. The impediments and refusals by Spanish state institutions, among which Constitutional Court Sentence 31/2010, involve a fundamental denial of the democratic evolution of the collective will of the Catalan people within the Spanish state and sets the basis for regression in self-government now clearly expressed in political, jurisdictional, financial, social, cultural and linguistic aspects.

The Catalan people have expressed in many ways the desire to overcome the current deadlock within the Spanish State, by means of asserting the need to build Catalonia as a state within the European framework. The European treaties specifically protect the rights of the people, the exercise of the rights of citizenship and the deepening of democracy as a principle.

On September 27, 2012, in resolution 742/IX, the Parliament of Catalonia asserted the need for the people of Catalonia to determine freely and democratically their collective future by means of a ballot.

In the past elections to the Catalan Parliament of 25 November 2012, the people expressed and confirmed this will clearly and unequivocally, establishing a democratic mandate of the citizens of Catalonia for the new Chamber, the representation of the will of the people of Catalonia to begin the process for the creation of Catalonia as a new state based on the recognition of its sovereignty.

The legitimisation of this process must spring from the majority decision of the people by means of a democratic ballot.

In order to carry out this process, the 10th Catalan Parliament, representing the will of the citizens of Catalonia as expressed democratically in the last election, makes the following: 

DECLARATION OF SOVEREIGNTY OF THE CATALAN PEOPLE 

In accordance with the democratically expressed will of the people of Catalonia, the Catalan Parliament concurs to declare the democratic sovereignty of the people of Catalonia as a political and legal subject, initiating the process to exercise the right to decide on how to implement the right to self-determination of peoples, and to effect the will to constitute Catalonia as a a new state within the European framework as per the following principles: 

1. Sovereignty

The people of Catalonia have, for reasons of democratic legitimacy, the nature of a sovereign political and legal subject. 

2. Democratic legitimacy

The process of exercising the right to decide shall be scrupulously democratic, particularly in ensuring the plurality of choice and respect for all, through deliberation and dialogue within Catalan society in order for the pronouncement arising therefrom to be the majority expression of the will of the people.

3. Transparency

All the necessary instruments shall be provided for the whole population and society of Catalonia to have all the information and knowledge required for the exercise of the right to decide and encourage participation in the process. 

4. Dialogue

Dialogue and negotiation with the Spanish State, the European institutions and the entire international community shall be fostered. 

5. Europe

The founding principles of the European Union shall be defended and fostered, particularly the fundamental rights of citizens, democracy, commitment to the welfare state, solidarity between the different territories of the Union and the promotion of economic, social and cultural progress. 

6. Legality

All existing legal frameworks shall be employed to effect the enhancement of democracy and the exercise of the right to decide.

Parliament of Catalonia, January 2013.