Catalan Socialists close ranks against nationalists’ sovereignty plan

The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) leadership voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to oppose the regional government's drive to present a formal petition before Congress asking national lawmakers to approve plans to hold a status referendum next year. This move brings the Catalan branch closer into line with the national opposition Socialist Party, with which there has been serious dispute over the PSC’s leaning toward the so-called “right to decide” principle.

In a 258 to 41 vote, the PSC gave its support to secretary general Pere Navarro who has been arguing that the vote cannot be held without a formal legal agreement between the central and regional governments.

The 13.3 percent of the PSC's 309-member national council that favored the petition are seen as being part of the pro-separatist factor inside the party. Nine members cast blank ballots. The council held a special meeting on Sunday to establish its position in the ongoing debate over the controversial plan — backed by the ruling Catalan nationalist CiU bloc of premier Artur Mas — to present Congress with a legal argument based on a constitutional clause that it hopes will win lawmakers' approval. The measure, which is also supported by the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and the leftist-green ICV, is expected to be passed in the Catalan assembly on December 4.

While the PSC majority sided with Navarro, some of his conditions did not make it into the party's final eight-point resolution. The document does make it clear whether PSC deputies must follow the party line in parliamentary voting, as Navarro demanded. Last January, five PSC deputies in the regional parliament sat out a session when the Socialists voted against a Catalan sovereignty declaration.