Draft of New Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia of 2005

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The Draft of New Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia of 2005 was a reform proposal regarding Catalonian self-government. The Autonomous Community of Catalonia is in the northeast corner of Spain.

On September 30, 2005, the Catalan Parliament approved (with the support of 120 deputies to 15) a proposal for reform of the current Statute of Autonomy. The approved proposal was sent for review and discussion to the Cortes Generales (Spain's parliament) on November 2, 2005.

Contents 1 Debate 2 Pre-agreement 3 Final reading 4 Vote 5 See also 6 External links

Debate

After receiving the proposal drafted by the Catalan regional parliament, on November 2, 2005 the Spanish Congress of Deputies approved the admission to formality of the Proposal for reform of the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia with the support of all the groups except the People's Party (PP). The latter filed an objection of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court of Spain, currently in process. Its constitutionality has also been contested by some intellectuals and journalists related to liberal or conservative media such as the COPE (Catholic radio network) and the Madrid-based newspapers El Mundo and La Razón.

Pre-agreement

On January 21, 2006, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Catalonian Leader of the Opposition Artur Mas arrived at a pre-agreement about nation definition and financing in the current project of statute.

Final reading

On May 10, 2006, the amended text [1] passed through its final reading through both Houses of the Parliament, with the support of all parties except both the Spanish main opposition party, the conservative People's Party, and the Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya. The latter voted against the project in the Spanish Congress of Deputies but abstained in the Senate (to avoid a blocking vote). ERC voted against it—despite its senior members having had a hand in drafting its content—as a result of the internal tensions within the party which this issue had brought to the surface. Later on both parties, for opposite reasons, supported a no vote in the referendum held afterwards regarding the passing of the new Statute.

Vote

The president of Catalonia, M. Hon. Pasqual Maragall, decided that Sunday June 18 would be the date on which the text would be put to the Catalan people in the form of a referendum. The referendum approved the Statute, the "yes" side receiving 74% of votes cast. Voter turnout was 49.41% of the total electorate, an unprecedentedly low figure for this type of vote. The new Statute has been in force since August 9, 2006

See also

Catalan constitutional referendum, 2006

Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia

External links

• Text of the 2005 Proposal for reform of the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (in PDF)