Deficits of democratic quality in Catalonia Report from the SCC regarding the separatist challenge Barcelona, 10 September 2015 1.- Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 2. The ‘Generalitat’ Government of Catalonia, an administration acting outside the law ... 4 2.1. The Advisory Council for National Transition (Consejo Asesor para la Transición Nacional) ................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Creation of State structures ............................................................................................................. 8 2.2.1. Explicit creation of State structures .................................................................................... 10 2.2.2. Creation of State structures without publicity ................................................................... 13 2.3. Government of Catalonia and “alternative paths” for the consultation ................................ 14 2.3.1. 9-N: From fraud to disobedience ........................................................................................ 14 2.3.2. 27-S: Autonomic elections to unilaterally declare independence ...................................... 18 2.4. Instrumentalisation of the international relations ...................................................................... 22 2.4.1. Assumption of state competencies and action against the General interest ..................... 24 2.4.2. Unilateral declaration of independence, leGal security and citizenship ............................. 28 2.4.2.1. Without legal security ................................................................................................ 28 2.4.2.2. Loss of rights ............................................................................................................... 30 3. The Local Administration at the service of separatism .................................................. 32 3.1. The Association of Municipalities for Independence ............................................................... 32 3.1.1. IlleGitimate ascription of local entities ................................................................................ 34 3.1.2. Drive for manifestly unconstitutional takinG office of mayors ........................................... 35 3.2. Symbolic invasion of official buildings and public spaces ....................................................... 38 3.2.1. Esteladas even during the electoral period ........................................................................ 38 3.2.2. Removal of Spanish flags .................................................................................................... 41 4.- Policies of communication for national construction ................................................... 43 4.1.- Governmental control and discredit of the public media ....................................................... 45 4.2.- Pro-independentist leaning of the Audio-visual Board of Catalonia .................................... 49 4.3.- Subsidies to similar media and propagandistic use of institutional publicity ....................... 55 5. Lack of political neutrality and linguistic discrimination in schools ............................... 61 5.1. Nationalistic indoctrination ........................................................................................................... 61 5.2. Institutions against bilingualism ................................................................................................... 65 6.- The demonization of dissidents in Catalonia. The case of SCC. .................................... 72 7. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 82 2 1.- Introduction Democratic quality is undoubtedly a very multisided question. From the five dimensions established by Morlino (freedom, equality, legality, responsibility and legitimacy) many indicators have been created and can be created for the analysis of specific realities. However, the aim of this report is not to enter into a theoretical disquisition concerning democratic quality, but rather to reveal some irrefutable signs that in Catalonia certain very important democratic deficits are occurring at a particularly sensitive political and social time. The separatist challenge is not only tensing society, but is also eclipsing much more important social problems which are being left absolutely unattended. As an association which brings in citizens of different sensitivities, but all firmly committed to Catalonia and to Spain as a whole, Sociedad Civil Catalana (SCC – Catalan Civil Society) aims to contribute with this document to raising the collective awareness as to the implications of the nationalist drift on our model of coexistence. Democratic quality has been the concern of SCC since it was created on 23 April 2014, but which was clearly consolidated a year later with the publication of the manifesto “Por una auténtica democracia en Catalunya” (For true democracy in Catalonia)1, the first initiative of the Observatory of Democratic Quality of the SCC, the movement behind this report. Although there is much other evidence of democratic shortcomings in Catalonia which are very well known for the echo they have had in the media, above all the cases of political corruption, in this first report of the mentioned Observatory, it has been chosen to deal with the questions that the SCC has had to constantly face in its first 14 months of existence. Specifically the absolutely disloyal actions of the ‘Generalitat’ Government of Catalonia and the local entities which, in open breach of legality, harm the juridical security and limit the rights of people; the instrumentalisation of the policies of communication at the service of the so-called national construction, which implies the intoxication of the public debate, and the obsessive demonization of those who fail to pull the line, which shows the great contradiction of Catalan nationalism, which is that it is incapable of respecting the diversity in its own territory. 1 http://www.cronicaglobal.com/es/downloads2/scc90.pdf 3 2. The ‘Generalitat’ Government of Catalonia, an administration acting outside the law The ‘Generalitat’, according to article 2 of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, is the institutional system into which this community politically organises its self-government. It is formed by the Parliament, the Presidency of the Government of Catalonia, the Government and other institutions established by Chapter V of Title II of the Statute. As the institutional organisation of an Autonomous Community, it forms part of Spanish legal ordinance and exercises the functions attributed to it by said ordinance and particularly by the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. Being subject to the whole of the ordinance, the ‘Generalitat’ cannot exercise the public power that has been conferred on it outside the legal provisions, and even less so against them. However, the ‘Generalitat’ and other Catalan institutions and public authorities have long chosen to ignore their condition as Spanish authorities and institutions and act as if the powers they exercise came from them and were not dependent on the other instances. This action supposes a deep lack of institutional loyalty and the use of public resources and authority not only for purposes not accounted for in the legal ordinance, but also intended for the destruction of the institutional framework from which their very condition as a public power is derived. This disloyalty does not only have institutional consequences, but, as we will see, means placing the citizens and particularly public officials in an inadmissible situation, permanently confronted with the need to obey orders or recommendations contrary to the legal ordinance. The result is a democratic anomaly unequalled in the countries of our surroundings. It is more than obvious that the Government of Catalonia acts outside Spanish legality and is also aimed at breaking it down. Unfortunately we have very clear examples of this attitude. In the report that follows, we will deal with the use of the ‘Generalitat’ for the creation of a Catalan State, something which has already been started: by starting up the Consejo Asesor para la Transición Nacional (CATN - Advisory Council for the National Transition) and the so-called “State structures”; through the express will to breach the Constitution with the holding of the so-called “citizens’ participation process” on 9 November 2014, and its continuation with the so-called “plebiscitary” elections of the coming 27 September; through the usurpation of international state competencies in order to establish diplomatic contacts against the general interests of Spain, and; through 4 repeated declarations by public leaders of the possibility of a unilateral declaration of independence. 2.1. The Advisory Council for National Transition (Consejo Asesor para la Transición Nacional) As has been said, the ‘Generalitat’ is a Spanish institution with competencies in a wide range of areas, which has to act in coordination with other Spanish administrations in order to satisfy the interests of the citizens, and always within the framework of these competencies. These obviously do not include that of preparing the creation of a new state in the