The Catalan referendum on self-determination, which is a universal right of the people, will be held on Sunday as it is impossible to prevent the will of millions of Catalans who want to vote, said Erick Hauck, head of the Catalonia delegation for Southeast Europe (SEE) based in Zagreb.
However, it is certain that the voting will not take place under the conditions desired by the residents of this wealthy northeastern province, Hauck said in an interview with Hina three days before the referendum on October 1.
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“The people of Catalonia wanted the referendum to be agreed upon with the Spanish state and to be held under optimal conditions,” he explained.
The government in Madrid, which calls the referendum illegal, and which has also been declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court, is trying to prevent it by seizing ballot papers, lawsuits against officials threatening them with legal proceedings and draconian fines, and police reinforcements arriving from all over Spain.
“The referendum will take place, under what conditions we do not know, but it will take place because millions of people want to vote. The will of the people cannot be prevented,” Hauck believes.
The referendum is the greatest expression of democracy
Madrid claims that the referendum is illegal because the constitution stipulates that it is only possible at the national level, but the measures it is trying to use to stop it are illegal, assesses the head of the Catalan delegation for SEE.
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“In order to prevent the referendum, they have de facto abolished the autonomy of Catalonia,” notes Hauck.
He claims that the Spanish authorities have intervened in the Catalan economy, entered various offices of the provincial government, restricted the right to assemble and freedom of expression, interfered with means of communication, closed websites, including private ones without a court order, and interrogated journalists without lawyers.
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“Madrid is violating fundamental rights, the same rights that the Spanish constitution theoretically protects,” says Hauck, questioning how it is possible for a state that calls itself democratic and claims to act in the name of democracy to prevent the holding of a referendum through illegal methods.
“Ultimately, the referendum is the greatest expression of democracy,” Hauck emphasizes, highlighting that “the right to self-determination is universal,” referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the UN in 1966, which recognizes the right to self-determination for all peoples.
Silence of the European Commission
Hauck is at the head of the recently opened Catalan delegation in Zagreb, as an economic and political representation of today’s autonomous province, and tomorrow perhaps a future state that needs to promote its interests abroad.
After Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Geneva, Washington, and New York, the Zagreb delegation is the twelfth open Catalan representation in the world and, in addition to Albania and six countries of the former Yugoslavia, it should in the future include Bulgaria, Moldova, and Romania.
The Catalan government believes that the quality of European democracy will be measured by Europe’s reaction to the referendum.
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The European Commission regularly responds that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of states, but citizens whose right to a referendum is violated are European citizens, and their rights should be protected by the Commission, says Hauck. He finds it significant that Brussels takes a stance, for example, on the referendum in Greece or on human rights violations in Turkey, but not in the case of Catalonia.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that if Catalonia chooses independence, it will have to apply as a new state for EU membership.
This should not be a problem at all because Catalonia has long been in the Union, and this process should not be a burden either temporally or financially, Hauck responds.
A country of strong identity
Analysts and politicians most often mention the economic aspect as the leading reason for the wealthy Catalonia’s desire for independence, as the province with 7.5 million inhabitants contributes more money to the Spanish budget than it receives back.
Hauck explains that this is not the only motive, as Catalonia is a country of strong identity that could not develop fully under three centuries of Madrid’s dominance.
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After the fall of Francisco Franco’s regime and the return of democracy to Spain, Catalonia gained the status of an autonomous province in 1979, and in 2006 an expansion of that autonomy was agreed upon with the government in Madrid. The agreement was approved in both the Spanish and provincial parliaments. Catalan voters confirmed the final text through a referendum despite subsequent interventions that ‘cut’ the autonomous status, but four years later the Constitutional Court unilaterally annulled parts of that statute, declaring the mention of “nation” in the preamble illegal, and among numerous provisions removed those concerning the right to self-determination.
Since then, the civic movement has been seeking recognition of the “Catalan question” and solutions.
“When more than a million people (for seven years in a row) take to the streets demanding a solution, it is clear that a problem exists, and that problem the government in Madrid, especially Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government, does not want to acknowledge,” says Hauck.
Repression and expression
Under pressure due to the intervention of the Spanish government in Catalan finances and with police on the streets, life is not easy, but the government in Barcelona continues to work, Hauck says.
He believes that despite all material and technical obstacles, the referendum will take place.
“The Catalan people, the more you press them, do not become more violent, but more creative.” He is convinced that the voting will be peaceful from start to finish. He claims that Catalans historically perceive going to the polls as a celebration.
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“People love to participate in public life, to gather on the streets; in Catalonia, civil society is very rooted, very strong.” This has been the case for the last seven years when, during the celebrations of the national holiday, Catalans have demanded recognition of their unilaterally revoked rights through various manifestations, such as human chains.
He believes there is no justification for the thousands of police officers sent from all parts of Spain to Catalonia, where the multitude on the streets does not represent an uncontrolled mass and unrest because “the Catalan people have never been out of control.” “Despite all the actions that the police have unlawfully taken against local authorities, the general mood of the people is to continue the celebration,” said Hauck, convinced that provocations will be avoided on Sunday and peace will be preserved.
