Revista d'Estudis Autonòmics i Federals (Oct 2013)
La contribució del Parlament al procés de consolidació i desenvolupament de l'autogovern de Catalunya i a la defensa de la seva identitat nacional
Abstract
This article analyses the specific contribution of the Catalan Parliament to the development and consolidation of self-government and national identity in Catalonia. In this sense, the article examines the resolutions, motions and declarations which have been adopted by the Plenary and the committees of the Catalan Parliament since its re-establishment in 1980, on four fundamental topics: first, the enlargement and improvement of the quality of the competences, as well as the establishment of a fair financial regime for Catalonia; second, the right to self-determination and the “right to decide”; third, the defence of the recognition of Catalonia as a nation and fourth, the defence of the Catalan language as the own language of Catalonia (“national language”). Regarding the first topic, the article showsthat self-government demands and complaints about the recentralizationtrends exhibited by central government are both old claims which started by claiming reinterpretations of the Spanish Constitution (right in the 1980s) and followed by proposals of constitutional amendments, reform of theCatalan Statute, and by the proposal of new financial regime for Catalonia (the “Fiscal Pact Proposal”). On the second topic, that about the claim for self-determination, the article shows that it has been a persistent issue of parliamentary debates: it was included in 11 resolutions during the period 1989-1991. While the earlier resolutions were just expressing the existence of such right, the most recent ones are the expression of a political will andestablish the course of action for its actual implementation. On the third topic, that referred to the “national recognition of Catalonia”, the article analyses the failed attempts to obtain the recognition of Catalonia as a nation from the Spanish Government. Regarding the defence of the Catalan language as the “national” language, the article shows how the Parliament has extensively devoted a large part of its non-legislative activity to it, although its effects have been weak given the fact that the Constitutional Court of Spain ruled against it.
