Showing posts with label Rule of law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rule of law. Show all posts
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Saturday, March 23, 2019
On 4 October 2017, Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights introduced the debate at the European Parliament, on the Constitution, rule of law and fundamental rights in Spain in the light of the events of Catalonia.
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-144694
TEXT
On 4 October 2017, Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights introduced the debate at the European Parliament, on the Constitution, rule of law and fundamental rights in Spain in the light of the events of Catalonia.
Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights (in ENGLISH) introducing the debate on the Constitution, rule of law and fundamental rights in Spain in the light of the events of Catalonia - in Europe, after the Second World War, and after the end of dictatorship in Spain, Portugal and Greece and again, after the fall of the Berlin wall, we have shaped our democratic societies based on three principles : democracy, respect for the Rule of Law and Human rights, the three need each other, they cannot exclude each other, you cannot use one against the others, if you remove one pillar, then the others will fall too, respect for the Rule of law is not optional, it is fundamental; if the law does not give you what you want, you can oppose the law, you can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law; so this fundamental that the constitutions of everyone of our Member States are upheld and respected, so this is the basis for our debate today, in that debate we should be guided by the values set out in Article 2 of the Treatees, values that are common to Member States and citizens, and on whoch our Union is founded.
As Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EC, in his last State of the Union: "Our European Union is not a State but it is a community of law, we must never loose sight of this"; there is general consensus that the Regional government of Catalonia has chosen to ignore the law when organising the referendum held last Sunday (1st October 2017), the Spanish Constitution Tribunal having suspended the Catalan laws on the organisation of the referendum and issued daily penalties against those who went against its orders, that is not changing the fact that we have all seen saddening images from Sunday, let me be clear, violence does not solve anything in politics, it is never an answer, never a solution, and it can never be used as a weapon or instrument; Europe knows that better that anywhere else, none of us want to see violence in our societies, however it is off course a duty for any government to uphold the rule of law, and this sometimes does require the proportionate use of force, we understand that people wanted to express their views, freedom of expression is a fundamental right for all European citizens, and thus for all Spanish citizens; one opinion is not more valuable than another opinion only because it is expressed more loudly [applause].
As the Commission has stated, under the Spanish constitution, Sunday's vote in Catalonia was not legal, looking ahead, it is clear that an agreed way forward is needed in Spain, for the European Commission, as Jean-Claude Juncker has reiterated repeatedly, this is an internal matter for Spain, that has to be dealt with in line with the constitutional order of Spain, that is why the European Commission has called on all relevant actors to now move quickly from confrontation to dialogue, the power of dialogue, of sitting down and talking to each other even if and especially when we passionately disagree is what our union is built on, all lines of communication must stay open, it is time to talk, to find a way out of the impass, working within the constitutional order of Spain, at the end of the day, the real answers can only come from all those concerned, those directly concerned are all 46 million Europeans who are Spanish citizens, those indirectly concerned are all Europeans who are citizens of all other Member States.
Jean-Claude Juncker is in touch with Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Prime Minister who will trustly ensure that the situation is resolved in a spirit of dialogue and in full respect of the Spanish Constitution and of fundamental rights of citizens, this must be the goal for all of us; allow me to stress that the development of Spain, since the Spanish people liberated themselves from dictatorship, is one of the greatest success stories Europe has seen in its history [Applause]; in less than my life time Spain was transformed from a nation under a boot of a dictator into a nation that leads globally in a great manieries, where every citizen has full right, protected by the rule of law, where culture flourishes and the economy grows, this is the all inspiring achievements of all Spanians, including Catalans; this would not have been possible, without full respect for the rule of law, respect for the separation of powers, respect for the ruling of judges; let me add, nowhere is the attachment for the rule of law stronger than in those nations where there are memories of what it means to be deprived of it; all this was achieved through hard work, commitment, dialogue and respect for diversity, please let that inspire all of us, to leave the path of confrontation and follow the road of cooperation and dialogue to solve the situation. Thank you very much.
Members of the European Parliament applauding
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
The Sicilian Generalitat - To understand the judgment of the 'procés' one must read Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri
12 MAR 2019 - 20:44 CET
We heard about the 3% case, the Palau de la Música case, the Tourism case, the Caric case, the Pallerols case, the ITV case, the family cases.
Of all that pujolist and pospujolist corruption we knew a whole encyclopedia. Catalan, of course. But until this oral hearing we never suspected to what extent the Generalitat was the real institutional heir of our Sicilian ex-colony.
To understand this trial one must read Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri, their seas of wine, joy and blood, their fields of potters, families and revenge. Almost everything is here, except for sex.
This is, in effect, a story where the secret (bills and invoices) are caked with silence (about the last person ordering everything needed for the voting), and the fear of challenging them: the omertà.
The pressure is on the weak (that needy provider, about to be ruined); the threat so that he does not fail (the unusual transfer of material in the street, "next to a bar"); or say (with whom he spoke, who ordered); social coercion (we are members of the same associations); and the overshoot (it is the cause, you understand me), just for him to go along.
And the urge is combined (for right now!) with distraction (intermediaries who ignore everything), and coercion (if you talk, we will not hire you anymore).
And there is no lack, in short, of the mysterious aura surrounding the pseudonym of Deus ex machina in the operation of the referendum stationery: Toni. Toni is probably Toni Molons, former secretary of Dissemination (propaganda) of the Govern, ceased when the 155 and current communication idem (propaganda). He is prosecuted for seven alleged crimes in the 13th Court of Barcelona.
His name has already surfaced twice: this Tuesday, and in the session of the 6th, also dedicated to the manufacture and distribution of ballots, envelopes, letters, in addition to advertising inserts and computer plans.
The scheme of the suppliers is sequential: there is a commission (for an unidentifiable account of the Generalitat, of Òmnium, or vaporous, or of Xavier Vendrell: sometimes, like this Tuesday, the witnesses contradict each other); a price is agreed (proforma is pre-invoiced or invoiced, or nothing); it is usually alluded to the fact that others, sometimes indeterminate, will pay.
But nobody pays, apparently; invoices are forgiven, or canceled by "negative" invoices; and thus the companies damaged/benefitted are still with their heads hang to basin of the homologation to continue going to public competitions of the house of Sicily.
All that tells about an administrative quagmire. And a colossal shame, in political, journalistic and of social reality terms. Or in Camilleri’s own terms.
But judicially the cosa nostra is another thing. To the clue, to the powerful inference, to the intense suspicion, to the exact but partial portrait, to the contradictory testimony, indubitable, personalized and substantive evidence that the crime of embezzlement has been committed need to be added.
https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/12/opinion/1552412715_370975.html
Les mythes et fantasmes entretenus par l’appareil séparatiste catalan...
FM : L’indépendantisme catalan alimente des mythes comme celui d’un ennemi héréditaire ou encore celui d’être volé économiquement – ce qui a été invalidé à maintes reprises. Il utilise la victimisation dans sa propagande. Il aime ressusciter Franco. Pourtant, il apparaît que la Catalogne n’a pas plus souffert du franquisme que les autres régions d’Espagne. Qu’en-est-il ?
Nicolas Klein : L’indépendantisme catalan aime en effet mettre l’accent sur la victimisation dont il aurait particulièrement fait l’objet, selon ses défenseurs, au cours de l’histoire espagnole, surtout en comparaison des autres régions du pays. Tantôt, ce sont la Castille et Madrid, dépeints comme d’horribles monstresfroids et centralisateurs, qui occupent le devant de la scène dans ce discours schématique ; tantôt, ce sont l’Andalousie et l’Estrémadure, terres méprisées car « arriérées » et plus pauvres mais aussi plus « généreusement arrosées » d’argent par l’État central, qui reviennent au premie
En réalité, d’un point de vue économique, la Catalogne et le Pays basque ont été les deux grands gagnants de la période franquiste car la dictature n’a fait que poursuivre une politique menée depuis deux siècles au moins (politique dont lesinitiateurs sont les Bourbons). La bourgeoisie catalane a été l’un des piliers matériels et financiers fondamentaux du camp nationaliste durant la Guerre civile (1936-1939) car elle était effrayée par les « rouges » et ne voulait surtout pas d’une victoire de l’extrême gauche républicaine. Elle s’est donc montrée très proche de Francisco Franco, l’exemple le plus frappant en étant sans doute l’entrepreneur Francesc Cambó, grande figure de la Ligue régionaliste dont les descendants idéologiques actuels sont Carles Puigdemont et Quim Torra.
Franco, qui savait pertinemment qu’il devait en partie sa victoire à cette bourgeoisie farouchement anticommuniste, lui a bien rendu la pareille à partir des années 50-60. C’est la Catalogne qui a été la mieux dotée en termes d’infrastructures lourdes (autoroutes, ports, pôle pétrochimique de Tarragone) dans tout le pays et elle a également bénéficié de nombreux avantages (Madrid, par exemple, n’a reçu l’autorisation d’organiser une foire internationale que des décennies après Barcelone et c’est la jeune démocratie espagnole qui lui a octroyé ce droit, pas Franco).
De fait, ce sont les Catalans et les Basques qui ont accueilli avec le plus de ferveur populaire le caudillo lors de ses déplacements en province (les images sont à ce sujet éloquentes), notamment dans les zones les plus indépendantistes à l’heure actuelle, comme Berga ou Manresa. Il faut comprendre qu’il s’agit en fait des héritières du carlisme (idéologie absolutiste, réactionnaire et traditionaliste qui s’oppose au libéralisme de Madrid à partir du xixe siècle) qui ne font que reproduire depuis lors, ce rejet de l’égalité et du projet démocratique porté par le centre du pays.
Si l’on s’en tient à la répression des nationalistes contre les républicains, selon les estimations du juge Baltasar Garzón (que l’on ne peut guère tenir pour un nostalgique du caudillo), entre 1936 et 1939, la Catalogne a été moins touchée que la région de Valence, la Nouvelle-Castille, l’Estrémadure, le León et la Vieille-Castille, la Galice ou même les Asturies, autant de provinces moins peuplées.
Après 1939, la province de Cordoue a connu des exactions bien plus importantes que celle de Barcelone, pour ne citer qu’un autre exemple frappant.
Reste la problématique du catalan, qui n’a en effet pas été promu au même titre que le castillan durant la dictature. Il n’en reste pas moins que cette langue régionale n’a pas été bannie de l’espace public : les foules passionnées qui recevaient Franco en Catalogne l’accueillaient avec des calicots en catalan. Par ailleurs, même si l’enseignement du catalan n’étaient alors pas aussi répandu qu’aujourd’hui, nombre de livres étaient officiellement publiés dans cette langue et il existait même des concours littéraires qui la mettaient à l’honneur et n’avaient rien de clandestin.
Par conséquent, la société catalane n’a ni plus, ni moins souffert du franquisme que celle du reste du pays.
FM : À contrario, l’indépendantisme catalan semble taire les années noires d’un certain Lluís Companys. Qui était-il ?
Nicolas Klein : Lluís Companys est en effet une figure-clé de l’histoire contemporaine catalane (et, partant, espagnole). Né en 1882, il est avocat de formation et occupe brièvement le poste de ministre de la Marine de l’Espagne en 1933. Il préside par la suite la Généralité de Catalogne, de 1934 à 1940.
Il s’agit de l’un des principaux chefs de file de la Gauche républicaine de Catalogne (ERC), parti qui existe toujours aujourd’hui et défend l’indépendance de la communauté autonome. Exilé en France après la défaite des républicains à l’issue de la Guerre civile, il est arrêté par la Gestapo, remis aux autorités franquistes et fusillé à Barcelone en 1940. Cette fin tragique lui confère bien entendu une aura considérable dans l’univers séparatiste actuel.
FM : Quels sont les faits qu’on peut lui reprocher ?
Nicolas Klein : L’exécution de Companys par les autorités franquistes est parvenue à éclipser dans l’esprit de beaucoup son action somme toute contestable (pour le dire gentiment) en tant que président de la Généralité de Catalogne.
Le dernier président de la Seconde République espagnole, Manuel Azaña, rapporte dans ses mémoires que Companys était partisan d’une « démocratie expéditive » (democracia expeditiva), expression qui en dit déjà long sur les convictions de ce dirigeant.
Outre le fait qu’il a proclamé l’indépendance de la Catalogne en octobre 1934 (trahissant ainsi la République), il a surtout ordonné des exécutions massives et aveugles à l’encontre de tous ceux qui avaient le malheur de ne pas communier avec ses idées. Ses massacres d’ecclésiastiques sont restés tristement célèbres, même s’il ne s’agit pas du seul secteur qui a eu à souffrir de la répression qu’il a orchestrée.
FM : Pourtant, de Lérida à Barcelone en passant par Blanes et Manresa – pour ne mentionner que ces villes –, des rues portent son nom. Comment est-ce possible ?
Nicolas Klein : Toutes les nations ont besoin de références mythiques et de légendes fondatrices. Au même titre que Rafael Casanova, Francesc Cambó ou Enric Prat de la Riba, Lluís Companys figure dans le panthéon des « héros » qui ont lutté pour l’indépendance et la « liberté » de la Catalogne, tout du moins si l’on considère les choses avec le regard des séparatistes.
Il convient, dans ce contexte, d’éviter de souiller leur nom et leur réputation. La Généralité a donc mis sous le tapis tout ce qui pouvait la gêner chez de tels personnages au nom du combat pour la construction d’une réalité nationale catalane qui se veut radicalement opposée à la réalité nationale espagnole (ou à ce que les sécessionnistes en perçoivent). Elle n’en est de toute façon pas à une manipulation près…
http://leblogdefrancoismeylan.blog.24heures.ch/archive/2019/03/12/les-mythes-et-fantasmes-entretenus-par-l-appareil-separatist-867087.html
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
The Electoral Board requires Torra to remove yellow ribbons and Catalan pro-independence banners from public buildings The board considers "legitimate" that the parties use these symbols, but not the institutions
Anabel Díez
Madrid 12 MAR 2019 - 12:13 CET
The Central Electoral Board (JEC) on Monday required the president of the Government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, to order within 48 hours the immediate withdrawal of pro-independence flags and yellow ribbons that can be found in any public building dependent of the Govern.
According to
the JEC, both symbols can be "legitimately used by the political parties
in their electoral propaganda but not by the public powers since they must
maintain a rigorous political neutrality". In a meeting of more than six
hours, the magistrates and professors who make up the Board, highlighted that
"the yellow ribbon and the pro-independence flag are partisan symbols used by
electoral groups participating in the elections". By way of description they
notice that "the yellow ribbon has been used to remind of leaders or
candidates belonging to political parties that are in a situation of preventive
detention".
In the
interests of equality of suffrage, "the law entrusts the electoral
administration with preserving it and prohibits the public powers -which are at
the service of all citizens- from taking sides in elections". To which it
should be added that the ideological and expression freedoms are fundamental
rights of the people, not of the rulers, so that citizens can exercise them
without any restrictions other than those imposed by respect for the rights of
others", the resolution argues. The Generalitat may now appeal this
decision by filing a contentious-administrative appeal before the Third Chamber
of the Supreme Court within two months from the date of its notification.
Citizens
on Wednesday gave a deadline of one day to the Government to withdraw the
yellow bows because they consider that
the presence of these symbols violated the principle of institutional
neutrality in the election period. Alfred Bosch, Minister of Foreign Affairs of
the Generalitat, replied that they would not do it and argued that the
exhibition of ribbons and banners is covered by the fundamental right to freedom
of expression. One day later, the group of Inés Arrimadas filed a complaint
with the Central Electoral Board.
This decision
is not the first time to be adopted. In the last Catalan elections, in December
2017, the electoral board of Barcelona already adopted the same measure and
forced several municipalities of the province to remove yellow ribbons from their
buildings and to remove banners, which contained slogans such as "Freedom to
political prisoners".
Before, there
was also a pronouncement on the
placement of pro-independence banners. The Supreme
Court said in 2016 that it is a "partisan" banner that represents
only "a part of the Catalan citizens represented by part of the political
parties". And, therefore, the magistrates concluded that their exhibition
in public buildings violates the requirement of "neutrality" of
these, especially in the electoral period.
"Citizens
have done what Sanchez's government does not do: to denounce the seizure of
public spaces by nationalism before the Electoral Board". Torra maintains
the separatist propaganda in the buildings while Sánchez looks the other way
round. The JEC has supported our position”, "Inés Arrimadas, leader of
Citizens in Catalonia, celebrated this Monday after knowing about the decision.
https://elpais.com/politica/2019/03/11/actualidad/1552330301_965901.html
Monday, March 11, 2019
The National High Court confirms the fine to the ANC for not protecting the data of its associates
Fernando J. Pérez
Madrid 8 MAR 2019 - 20:40 CET
The National High Court has confirmed the administrative penalty of 40,000 euros imposed on the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) for not properly protecting the personal data of 53,818 of its affiliates and supporters, which ended up in the hands of hackers and were published on social networks in April 2014. The pro-sovereignty entity, presided over by Carme Forcadell, neglected to care about information specially protected by law, such as ideology, union affiliation and beliefs, as well as another referring to personal identity, addresses and economic and financial data. The court has also fined the ANC with 200,000 euros for violating the data protection law with the so-called Gigasurvey for the illegal consultation of November 9, 2014, a survey for which Omnium Cultural, the other large civil organization pro-independence, has already been fined.
The ruling, from the Contentious-Administrative Chamber, confirms the two fines that the Spanish Data Protection Agency imposed on the ANC. The ruling explains that, in April 2014, the entity prepared a file with data from all its associates to prepare the general assembly that was to be held in Tarragona. From this file, in September of the same year, the group calling itself Anonymous Catalonia published, in its Facebook profile, a set of data of members of the ANC, such as the numbers of associate, names and surnames, DNI, emails, types of partner and, where appropriate, debts with the entity.
The ANC, after knowing the leak, filed a complaint in which it showed that access to the data could be produced through the archive of the census of partners used to prepare the General Assembly of the month of April 2014. This file was deleted once the meeting of the highest body of the entity ended. The ANC requested from Facebook and Wikisend, the encrypted platform with which the data were transferred, the withdrawal of the illegally published files.
The lack of adequate security measures to guarantee the security of the personal data contained in the file created for the management of the ANC assembly has been proven for the judges. The web application, made available to the associates for that assembly, allowed access to the file through the DNI number, without any type of password. That lack of security measures, assures the ruling of the Court, allowed an unidentified third party to access the profile of the 53,818 registered associates at the time of access, and obtain personal data.
In the same ruling, the National High Court has confirmed another penalty of 200,000 euros for very serious infringement, which the Spanish Data Protection Agency imposed in April 2016 on the ANC - as well as on Omnium Cultural - for carrying out a survey throughout Catalonia about independence. This poll, by the way in which it was conducted and in which the data were treated, potentially allowed to personally identify supporters or those opposed to secession. The pro-sovereignty entities carried out the so-called Gigasurvey between October and November 2014, in the middle of the campaign ‘Ara es l'Hora’ (Now is the Time) for mobilization for the sovereignty consultation of November 2014, organized by the Generalitat despite the ban of the Constitutional Court.
Infiltrators of the pro-independence movement - After gaining union weight, secessionism faces the assault on the chambers of commerce
Saturday, 09/03/2019 at 09:00 CET
At times I remember the movie 'The Departed', by Martin Scorsese, in which the rookie policeman Billy Costigan, played by Leonardo di Caprio, joins the band of the powerful boss of the Irish mafia Frank Costello (the histrionic Jack Nicholson).
Saving distances, of course, without mafias or camouflaged police, the reference serves to describe how pro-independence civil movements like the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) promote the assault (legal and democratic) to institutions and entities of the 'establishment' in Catalonia. And they also get enthusiastic support from the Government, driven by a certain desire for revenge against the established economic powers, which, in their opinion, left the 'procés' in the lurch. "Now it is our time to change the correlation of forces", it seems they are saying to themselves.
This infiltration attempt, in addition to the political colonization carried out in numerous professional chartered institutions and associations over the last years, may have one of its high points in the upcoming elections to the chambers of commerce, with a candidacy being promoted by the ANC or the Cercle Català de Negocis. Its objective is to obtain the maximum number of members in the plenary sessions of these institutions, especially in Barcelona, in order to gain a presidency that is as favorable as possible to the independence movement and, if possible, to unilateralism. More than business interests, they openly defend political and secessionist objectives.
Another episode of this offensive has been the last union elections in the central and territorial services of the Generalitat. The Intersindical CSC, a residual union so far, which called the last and failed 'country strike on 21 February - encouraged by the Govern - has become the second most voted force, with just over 20% of the total and has gone from 4 to 35 delegates 'Vote for a trade union committed to the country', encouraged the ANC from its twitter account.
In a similar line, the chamber elections, which should be held between May 2 and 8, can give those who openly support the infiltration of secessionism in all institutions and entities of the economic and social world an important boost. 'The chambers of commerce: tools for the country' is its motto. More clearly...
And the electronic vote, introduced by the Govern, allows an unprecedented level of participation, which leaves much more open the result of the elections to the chambers than with the previous system. All this can be the final touch on the cake of pro-sovereignty strategy, like that referendum to which they so much appeal. Mobilization capacity is not missing in the pro-independence movement, as some of its opponents and the 'establishment' know. In the end it is a question of ballot boxes and votes. Is not that democracy?
https://www.elperiodico.com/es/opinion/20190309/independentismo-infiltrado-7340900
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Une hypothétique "Constitution catalane" bien peu démocratique
WORDPRESS - Le juge espagnol Santiago Vidal, l’un des inspirateurs de cette « Constitution » (photographie : ACN et Ara)
Désormais, l’on sait que ce texte constitutionnel, notamment inspiré par le juge Santiago Vidal, prévoyait :
- d’interdire l’existence de toute formation politique dont l’objectif était la réunion à l’Espagne ou la fin de l’indépendance de la Catalogne ;
-d’interdire à tous les Catalans ayant été fonctionnaires, policiers, gardes civils ou militaires pour l’Espagne d’acquérir la nationalité de la république dont les sécessionnistes envisageaient la création.
https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/3580271/0/independentistas-catalanes-querian-prohibir-partidos-que-fueran-contra-republica-catalana-su-constitucion/?utm_source=Facebook-20minutos&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Postlink&fbclid=IwAR0SXjg-BJ6OvYD2jFrFLPqLugbo75d_-Ssmt3xDau6qtUKR9J_ILgEMIJ8 et https://www.libertaddigital.com/espana/2019-03-06/la-constitucion-catalana-negaba-la-ciudadania-a-funcionarios-militares-y-policias-del-estado-1276634265/
Complete text of the draft Catalan constitution
11/5/2016 El periódico
ENGLISH
The speakers have handed over the document to Carme Forcadell in the Parlament.
This is the full text of the draft constitution of Catalonia that the entity Constituïm has handed over to the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Carme Forcadell.
ESPAÑOL
Texto completo del borrador de constitución catalana
https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20160511/constitucion-catalana-texto-completo-pdf-5123613
The Republic that Puigdemont was planning - The pro-independence supporters wanted to prohibit the parties against the Catalan state and limit the right of citizenship
Juan José Fernández
Madrid - Friday, 03/08/2019 | Updated on 03/09/2019 at 11:48 CET
Two fragments from the project of Constitution for a Catalan republic as drafted by the former judge Santiago Vidal. / EL PERIODICO
The Government of Carles Puigdemont planned for the first moments of an independent Catalonia to capture 4.200 million euros in social contributions from companies, to spend 499 million euros to activate their own treasury and to confiscate real estate from the Spanish State for 19,134 million euros.
These figures are derived from the set of reports and other contributions of the Civil Guard to the investigation of the Court of Preliminary Investigation 13 of Barcelona for crimes connected with the preparation of independence. Among the elements of evidence presented, a draft of a Catalan constitution that foresees important limitations of political rights for parties and officials who do not support the pro-independence movement.
For example, and to diminish legitimacy from possible appeals or protests from within, the Catalan constitution project found among Vidal’s documents foresaw the limitation of rights to those implicitly considered as internal enemies: "Catalan citizenship will not be obtained, nor kept, by those people who, not being Catalans of origin, have been military professionals and/or forces of public military or civil order of the Kingdom of Spain and/or have been part of a foreign government".
In addition, the basic rule of the new republic would impose, according to the documents found, to all civil servants the obligation to choose a single nationality, and would give them six months to decide either to practice in Catalonia as Catalan citizens or not being Catalan citizen, in which case they will not be allowed to practice.
In the republic foreseen by the pro-independence movement, not all ideas could be defended. In Santi Vidal's sketch there is an article that foresees to allow "the existence of all kinds of political participation as long as its electoral program does not go against the existence of Catalonia as a State or against this Constitution". In terms of internal security, the plans proposed the creation in the police of this republic of a "unit specializing against violent pro-Spain groups" which could exercise "police pressure" on the most heated disaffected.
The lawyer of the court that intervened in the search, as well as the guards who carried it out and who analyzed the documentation, were struck by the shocking detail that, for the notes of the Catalan constitution, Vidal used hundreds of pages of the Administration of Justice of Spain, official paper, with the shield of the State, coming from the court in which he exercised.
Social security, key
The investigations have revealed the participation of important consulting, technology and information firms to prepare the data management bases necessary to create a Catalan social security. So far no payments have been discovered to these companies, including Deloitte, IT-Sistems and IBM, only budgets from technicians of the Generalitat.
With the Center for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CTTI) as a pivot, under the political direction of the minister for Labor Dolors Bassa and its Secretary General Josep Ginesta, and with experts from the center experts in computer networks, the Government designed a system of raising social resources for the beginnings of a Catalonia separated from Spain.
The plans, intervened by the Civil Guard in their searches held on September 20, 2017 - Operation Anubis - by order of Court 13, include technological preparations that were already well advanced before the Parliament enacted the laws of disconnection that later suspended the Constitutional Court.
Annotations in the papers intervened by the Civil Guard to the technician of the Departament de Treball David Franco on September 20, 2017. On the left, a diagram of the collection system for a social security in independent Catalonia. On the right, the figures of affiliates and retirees that the Govern Puigdemont forecast. / EL PERIODICO
For the Civil Guard, it was "key in the disconnection to assume the social security system", it says in a report. The plans pointed to the need to have accession -or compliance- of at least from 100 leading companies in Catalonia. With the contributions to the Social Security of those companies, plus those of 233 entities of the public sector controlled by the Generalitat, the designers of the plan foresaw to gather a critical mass of income of 4,200 million euros.
But that was in the first phase. The objective in terms of Social Security was to collect and manage the contributions of 3.2 million taxpayers and control 690,000 companies, including the self-employed, and the pensions of one million retirees.
Among the documents seized by the Civil Guard at the headquarters of the Department of Labor in the tense day of September 20, there are notes from the technician David Palanques foreseeing that the Generalitat stands as "the authority requesting in Catalonia all taxes and all the fees and obligations of any type for the social security system and passive classes".
The agency that would administer them would be a Catalan Agency for Social Protection. For the technical design of that agency, the Generalitat requested sketches from the Deloitte firm, according to notes intervened with the work technician David Franco. Its participation was budgeted at 197,508 euros, although the notes also foresee a "no VAT" price: 163,230. In those notes there are also allusions to participation in these tasks of HP, IBM, Itteria and the Cesicat.
They were needed to implement a Data Processing Center (CPD) that was going to have a budget of 1,471,247 euros in 2017 and 2,537,561 in 2018. The CPD would have to be able to manage the data of the mentioned 3.2 million taxpayers and 300,000 affiliations per year.
Catalan Finance Department
Beyond the famous Moleskine of Josep Lluís Salvadó, Secretary of the Department of Economy and Finance, the Civil Guard has also analyzed a pen drive of Salvadó with a single document, "Activitats i mesures adreçades a la creació de l'Estat Catalá", which contains a quantification of the resources necessary for the deployment of the treasury of an independent Catalonia on the same day 1 of the breakup.
According to the calculations that Salvadó made, that would mean spending 499,860,737 euros, and increase the staff of the Catalan Tax Agency in 7,000 people. All this, clarifies the Civil Guard, without counting on "the amount necessary for the deployment of the customs or the real estate agency", which would be the Catalan land registry.
And all this calculated as an extension only budget, without counting the resources already employed, in the autonomic phase, in creating an independent tax system: "It is inferred that around 17 million euros have been invested in the deployment of the tax administration as a step intermediate to reach the full fiscal sovereignty of the future Catalan state", the investigators assure to Judge Alejandra Gil, the one to take care of the preliminary investigations initiated by the late Judge Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer.
Confiscation of State property
The appropriation of other resources by a Catalan government already separated from Spain would have legal coverage at the highest normative level of the new Catalan republic.
Among the papers seized from former judge Santiago Vidal at his home that September 20, there was an imitation of a Catalan constitution. The last article is a "decree of confiscation", with such a title, which runs like this: "The assets existing on the day of the declaration of independence, within the current territory of Catalonia, belonging to the Kingdom of Spain, pass over to the property of the Catalan Republic".
The Secretary of Finance Salvadó had a team of 10 people, investigated by the Security Forces, working on an inventory of real state property and its value. The figure that came out was 19,134 million euros. The confiscation of State assets by a disconnected Generalitat had been the subject of open debates at the Catalan National Assembly, when in conferences or colloquiums were raised the first steps of a Catalonia separated from Spain.
https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20190308/planes-govern-puigdemont-independencia-cataluna-7343958
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Trials of Catalan activists - the what the why and how great academic centers are unwittingly contributing to undermining a European democracy
Twelve former Catalan politicians and activists are currently facing trial before the Spanish Supreme Court for charges ranging from misuse of public funds to disobedience and rebellion. The prosecutions are a consequence of their involvements in the acts leading to the so-called ‘unilateral declaration of independence’, issued by the Catalan Parliament in September and October 2017 and which triggered the biggest constitutional crisis Spain has witnessed since its democratic transition.
The Catalan Regional Government (Generalitat) in 2017, sought to subvert Spain’s constitutional order. despite the Constitutional Court’s constant warnings, rulings and prohibitory injunctions, and relying on the alleged legitimacy it had been awarded by the supposed ‘will of the Catalan people’. This Cabinet passed laws which sought to suspend the operation of the Spanish constitution in Catalonia, with the hope that leading to a situation of de facto independence would force the Spanish state to recognize its formal independence.
In doing so, an attack was launched against the most fundamental provisions of the Spanish constitution: Articles 1(1), 1(2) and 2, which hold that Spain is a country “subject to the rule of law”, the foundations of which lie on the country’s “indissoluble unity” and on a “national sovereignty” belonging to “the Spanish people” as a whole. Contrary to what is claimed by individuals such as Thursday’s speaker, this is no constitutional anomaly or the sign of a totalitarian state.France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and Brazil all contain similar provisions, as does the USA in Texas v White (1869) 410 US 179, where it was held that that the United States federation was “indissoluble” and “perpetual”. As recently as 2016, the German Constitutional Court struck down a secessionist referendum in Bavaria, arguing that the sovereignty of the German state rested on the German people as a whole, not on individual Länder.
These acts of open breach of the Spanish Constitution led to the application by the Spanish Central government of Article 155 which involves the suspension of the regional autonomy and the dismissal of the Cabinet at the time,. The implementation of the Article 155 was authorized by the Senate. Once again, this is not unique to the Spanish constitution: it is based on the concept of Bundeszwang (Article 37 of the German Constitution), and similar provisions can be found in the constitutions of Austria (Art 100), Italy (Art 126) or Argentina (Art 75).
Following her escape from the country of the former President, Carles Puigdemont and several of his "ministers" , a European Arrest Warrant was issued against them by the the Spanish Audiencia Nacional (Court of Appeal) although later withdrawn . Since then they have been touring Europe, lecturing on the biased Spanish judiciary, the oppressive nature of the Spanish state (as the title of Thursday’s talk implies) and the fact the country allegedly has political prisoners.
Spain, is a member of the European Union and of the Council of Europe and a country with what is often considered one of Europe’s most progressive constitutions, does not have political prisoners. Similarly, the Supreme Court’s trial of the secessionist leaders will be no ‘show trial’, but one which, like every other trial which takes place in the country, will be conducted under the extensive procedural guarantees provided by both the Spanish Constitution and by the European Convention of Human Rights.
It is deeply regrettable, that many outside Spain have fallen into the secessionist narrative which attempts to portray Spain as an oppressive state and the Spanish judiciary as a biased one. There is no democratic mandate beyond that established by a country’s constitution, which lays the framework of a society’s rights and legal obligations. It is not permissible, in any democratic regime, to deliberately violate (and call for the violation of) the constitution, under the false pretence of operating under an alternative legal order.
There are even Law faculties around Europe who are hosting talks with some of these leaders currently fugitives from justice.? Would for example any university in Europe host someone who is avoiding a European Arrest Warrant issued by the UK, after explicitly vowing to disobey the Constitution and declare the independence of one of its constituent nations? Would it allowed a talk which sought to project the image of the UK being a “fascist state” with a biased judiciary as has been the case in some well renowned universities sucha as Cambridge? It is highly doubtful.
By hosting these talks these centers of knowledge are contributing to the narrative of the members of the former Catalan government being martyrs. They are not: they are politicians who, in full knowledge of their actions, intentionally acted ultra vires in respect of their own Statute of Autonomy. It is contributing to the notion that it is permissible to, in the name of das Volk, disavow a country’s constitution. More importantly, perhaps, it is allowing its premises and its brand to be used to attack the judiciary of an EU Member State and to undermine the very notion of the Rule of Law and the Rechstaat.
Friday, March 08, 2019
The three women who fight nationalism in Europe
The MEPs have led some of the most successful initiatives at European Community level with the aim of countering the story of the Generalitat and Diplocat in Brussels
The three women who fight nationalism in Europe: Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Beatriz Becerra and Teresa Giménez Barbat / CG
Laura Fàbregas
08.03.2019 00:00 h.
The battle in Brussels against Catalan nationalism is fought mainly by three women. These are Liberal MEPs Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Teresa Giménez Barbat and Beatriz Becerra.
The objective of the successive governments of the Generalitat has been to internationalize the so-called pro-independence procés to try to force a mediation of the international community between the State and the Catalan Administration. Through bodies such as the Diplocat and the opening of delegations abroad they have been creating their own nationalist diplomacy without almost finding Spanish interlocution in Europe to confront their nationalist story.
In recent years, however, with the increase of political tension, constitutionalist forces have been organized to counter propaganda. This is how initiatives such as Forum of Professors in the academic field have been born. In the parliamentary area, three of the figures fighting the most with their work nationalism are these three MEPs.
Pagazaurtundúa: "It was necessary to refute the lies"
Maite Pagazaurtundúa explains that upoon their arrival in Brussels they were "discovering that it was very necessary to do a job defending the reputation of democratic Spain" as well as "refuting the lies of the nationalists".
For this they had to "weave complicities with MEPs from different groups". She regrets, however, that the successive Spanish governments have not had "a systematic strategy" or "effective" to combat it.
This MEP worked on a report on the nature of the self-proclaimed defense committees of the republic (CDR) and insisted that these groups violate the rights enshrined in Articles 1, 13, 16 and 23 of the Constitution and Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union on the defense of the rule of law and respect for minorities: "These values are common to the Member States in a society characterized by pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men", the report said.
Another of the analyzes presented by her to the international community, entitled “The violation of children's rights and attacks on diversity in the classroom”, exposed some cases of school indoctrination and the refusal of Catalan institutions to educate in the mother tongue of the Spanish-speaking students.
Barbat: “Logramos convencer a los eurodiputados”
Teresa Giménez Barbat admite que “hasta ahora nadie se había tomado en serio la necesidad de elaborar un contrarrelato” que, por una parte, “desmintiera, punto por punto, la propaganda que los nacionalistas han ido inoculando en las instituciones europeas” y, por el otro, pusiera en “valor la democracia española; sin falsos triunfalismos, pero también sin complejos”.
Se sincera al explicar que “los nacionalistas llevan ventaja”, pero que lograron “convencer a los eurodiputados” con el “fruto” de su trabajo. Y es que la eurodiputada catalana y su equipo han tirado adelante el think tank Euromind para que Europa se dote de argumentos humanistas, científicos y racionales para atajar la amenaza y el auge del populismo. Por él han pasado científicos de la talla de Steven Pinker, el economista e historiador Gabriel Tortella o la historiadora Elvira Roca para desmentir la España de la leyenda negra.
Barbat: "We managed to convince the MEPs"
Teresa Giménez Barbat admits that "until now no one had taken seriously the need to elaborate a counter-report" that, on the one hand, "denied, point by point, the propaganda that the nationalists have been inoculating in the European institutions" and, on the other, put "in value Spanish democracy; without false triumphs, but also without complexes".
She is sincere when explaining that "the nationalists have an advantage", but that they managed to "convince the MEPs" with the "fruit" of their work: this Catalan MEP and her team have promoted the the Euromind think tank so that Europe could profit from humanistic, scientific and rational arguments to tackle the threat and the rise of populisms. This think tank has welcome scientists such as Steven Pinker, economist and historian Gabriel Tortella or historian Elvira Roca to deny the Spain of the black legend.
Along the same lines, this week they asked the Commission about the arrival of Carles Puigdemont in Parliament and about the information that the Government contracted with T-Systems services linked to the procés. They have also sent a request for explanations to the MEP Catherine Bearder who authorized the exhibition that led to Puigdemont sneaking into the European Parliament, and a letter to the bureau in reference to this same episode.
Becerra: "Europe endorsed the constitutionalist cause"
The MEP Beatriz Becerra was the one who, during the days of the illegal referendum of October 1, 2017, wrote to the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, asking him for a communication. The Italian’s response that "any attack on the Constitution of a Member State is an attack on the legal framework of the Union" became one of the most important statements from the European Union against the secessionist plan. "I think I got the strongest answer that has been available so far. Thus, Europe took up the constitutionalist cause", Becerra adds.
This MEP from the ranks of UPyD was also the protagonist of a video that had a lot of impact on social networks in which she came to rebut the coach Josep Guardiola on the so-called "right to decide". "Making politics is also explaining reality and denying the hoaxes and disinformation of the secessionists," she says.
Her next objective - she explains - is that Europe does not end up financing the "shady businesses of Puigdemont nor his crypto-republic" by way of the lobby CatGlobal that the Catalan escaped former president tried to register in Brussels.
https://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/politica/tres-mujeres-combaten-nacionalismo-europa_227856_102.html
Monday, March 04, 2019
The Law
Juan José Pérez Burniol
La vanguardia
02/03/2019
ENGLISH
These days, it is often claimed as an undisputable principle that democracy is above the rule of law. This daring statement, which is normally declared with as much confident assurance as condescending sufficiency, rests on an initial fallacy: the rule of law would only involve the syllogistic application of the legal rules to concrete facts. Whereas, the truth is that the rule of law is the fundamental ethical and political mandatory principle that free women and men must be governed by predetermined rules which are accepted by all, for the sake of peace and freedom.
Cicero had it clear when he argued that where there is no law, there is no city, that is, no community of citizens who govern themselves. Centuries later, Saavedra Fajardo wrote: "On the stone of the laws, not on the will, true politics is founded. They are the government lines and the highroads of the reason of State. The ship of the republic sails safely taking them as certain courses". And Friedrich Hayek has argued the same not so long ago: what distinguishes a free country from a dictatorship is precisely respect for the rule of law. All this is so because being free means not being subject to the arbitrary will of another person, be it a tyrant or a more or less numerous or enthusiastic crowd. For everyone, rules and governed must submit to the law. There is a special meaning to this when the Constitution itself is concerned, because the constitutional text is the reference which has to be invoked by those who make the laws (the parliaments), by those who apply them (governments and administrations) and those who interpret them (the courts).
Therefore, to oppose the democratic principle to the principle of legality denotes a wrong understanding of what democracy is. This follows from the judgement of the Supreme Court of Canada on the secession of Quebec. Of course, the secessionists claimed the primacy of the people's will based on the democratic principle, which enshrines the people's sovereignty expressed through the ballot. And it is true that, in a representative democracy, the axis of the democratic process rests on the citizens' will expressed through the election of their representatives in the federal Parliament and in the legislative assemblies of the federated States. However, if we identify democracy with the popular will expressed through the vote, such will should not be interpreted out of its context, unconnected to the other principles composing the constitutional order. Thus, in a complex State with different levels of government, there may be different majorities in the federal Parliament and in the assemblies of the federated States, without it being possible to maintain that one majority is more legitimate than another as an expression of the citizens' democratic will. For this same reason, the ruling declares that there is no democracy without rule of law. Therefore, the law establishes the framework within which the "sovereign will" can be expressed and in which its mandate must subsequently be executed.
In sum, for democratic institutions to be recognized as such, it is necessary that they be based on the law: a law that makes citizens' participation and accountability possible, through public institutions established by the Constitution. As the ruling states: "It would be a grave mistake to equate legitimacy with the "sovereign will" or majority rule alone, to the exclusion of other constitutional values". Consequently, in order to assume the scope and relevance of these values, we mast take into account the reasons why neither the Constitution nor the rule of law can be subject to the rule of the majority: 1) To protect fundamental rights and individual freedoms; 2) To protect minorities against the pressures of the majority and guarantee social and political pluralism; 3) To preserve the division of political power at different levels of government, for which it is essential that no elected majority at any of these levels can unilaterally usurp powers that do not correspond to it. Given these three reasons, the conclusion is clear: the majority vote in a federated state or autonomous community does not justify the violation of the Constitution. On that basis, the ruling states that it is a mistake to oppose democracy to the rule of law and constitutionalism, that is, to oppose the democratic principle to the principle of legality: "Viewed correctly, constitutionalism and the rule of law are not in conflict with democracy; rather, they are essential to it". What does not rule out that a political solution must be sought should there be a political problem, but this has to take place always within the framework of law.
References
https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1643/index.do?site_preference=normal
LA LEY
https://www.lavanguardia.com/opinion/20190302/46771070074/la-ley.htmlSunday, March 03, 2019
The German giant that betrayed Spain: the hidden pact of T-Systems with Puigdemont
José María Olmo
Beatriz Parera
The Civil Guard accredits the key role of the multinational.
The Civil Guard accuses T-Systems, with 31.9% of its capital in the hands of the German State, of playing a decisive role in the 1-O and in the creation of the structures of independent Catalonia
Neither the investigations opened against the Catalan Executive on account of the referendum nor the warnings that the Judiciary sent directly to T-Systems to remind it that some adjudications could go beyond the statutory framework prevented the German company from continuing to lend decisive support to the sovereignty road map. Researchers have reached this conclusion after analyzing the abundant documentation on the 'procés' found in September 2017 at the headquarters of T-Systems in Spain, located on Sancho de Avila Street in Barcelona. Emails and confidential reports would prove that, at least since 2014, the company knew the plans of the secessionist parties and articulated internal protocols to cooperate intensively with them without being discovered.
T-Systems devised an internal strategy in 2015 to position itself consciously on the side of the independence parties and collaborate in the plans to break with the rest of Spain. (Click here to access the full report)
According to the investigations of the Armed Institute, at least a dozen employees of T-Systems would have participated in the development of the infrastructure of the Catalan Republic. The agents highlight the role of Rosa María Rodríguez Curto, the director in charge of relations with the Generalitat, who was detained in the Anubis operation along with a dozen other high-ranking officials of the regional administration. On her working table was found a 20-page report printed on both sides entitled "Generalitat de Catalunya -Account Plan- Analysis of political ideals and institutional positioning"; in this document, in addition to examining the proposals of the parties that defended unilateral independence and dissecting their respective strategies to achieve it, they fixed the position that T-Systems should adopt in a conflict that this process would necessarily generate with the State.
The "Action Plan" to help the Government
The report, which probably would have been compiled in 2015, makes clear on which side of the line T-Systems was placed. Near the end of the document, under a heading called "Plan of Action", the German multinational specified that it was committed to creating a 'White Paper' that would summarize the contribution of the company to the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) of the Generalitat and condensed how they could continue with this collaboration in the future. Only between 2012 and 2016, the governments of Artur Mas granted contracts to T-Systems for 310 million euros, becoming one of the main customers of the subsidiary in Spain of the historic German telephone company, participated in a more than considerable way by the German state (it controls 14.48% of its capital directly and another 17.41% through the public bank KfW).
In order not to lose this enormous source of income or even increase it, the T-Systems report concluded that the firm had to activate a "shock plan detailing actions" to achieve the "materialization of the concrete bet for the process of national constitution" and the "change of model", an euphemism for the definitive rupture of Catalonia with the rest of Spain. The company considered that this scenario was a great opportunity to opt for strategic projects linked to independence, such as the development of the "Public Treasury", "Social Security", the "Catalan DNI", the "preparation of Data Bases for an operational electoral system" and the creation of an "own [telephone] operator (Euskaltel type)", specified the report in another chapter. These were not the only contracts that interested the multinational. Other emails reveal that T-Systems also participated in the development of a police 'software' so that the Mossos d'Esquadra could monitor compliance with the laws of the new State and a second intelligence 'software' more oriented to Cesicat, an agency of security that was to be the embryo of the Catalan CNI.
"Intentionality to participate in the 'procés'"
"From the analysis of these documents," the Civil Guard notes in its report, "it can be concluded that T-Systems had clear, precise and unambiguous knowledge of the political project of the Catalan autonomous government since, at least, the year 2015, having carried out a detailed study of the road map that it had planned to follow, the State Structures that it wanted to create and the ICT needs that all this would entail. Once this study was done, it defined the strategy that, as an ICT company, it should try just to continue to be the reference of the Generalitat in this process, with the volume of business that all this entailed". "There is no doubt," the researchers add, "of the intentionality of T-Systems to participate in the 'procés', not only since that precise moment, but also previously it would have done so, given that, otherwise, it is supposed that it would not obtain any credibility before the corresponding organisms of the Generalitat if previously it had not made works in that very sense".
One of those previous works that made T-Systems the technological head of the Government was the creation of the registry of Catalans abroad for the first independence referendum of 2014, promoted by Artur Mas, an episode that is also being investigated now by the Civil Guard. Specifically, the German firm was commissioned to launch this application because the Government wanted to facilitate the vote to citizens who lived outside the community.
The report of the Civil Guard reveals that T-Systems collaborated in the development of the registration of Catalans abroad, on the 1-O website itself and on the official page of the National Pact for the Referendum, in the image above, which was made public in January 2017. (Click here to access the full report)
Researchers have now found indications that this program, which then did cost 527,685 euros, was updated several times by T-Systems throughout 2017 to make it the registry of Catalans abroad who wanted to vote on 1-O. The changes involved an additional cost of 94,253 euros, according to the report of the Armed Institute, which has just been sent to the Court of Instruction number 13 in Barcelona, where the investigations against the political leaders of the Generalitat of second level have been centralized. They face the crimes of embezzlement, disobedience and sedition.
Collaboration until the last moment
T-Systems decided to collaborate with the Generalitat to develop the State’s own competences, such as the National Identity Card, Social Security, the Tax Agency and, even, databases to set up a completely autonomous electoral system. (Click here to access the document in full size)
The Civil Guard intervened during the investigation dozens of telephone conversations that demonstrate the enormous degree of affinity that existed until the last moment between the high-ranking officers of the Generalitat responsible for the consultation and the directors of T-Systems, even though the company already knew that the tasks they were implementing were illegal. Only in relation to the 1-O, in addition to the census of Catalans abroad, the subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom was also responsible for developing the page of the National Pact for the Referendum - which served to launch the convocation definitively in January 2017- and made changes in the official website of the consultation just a few days before it was held, when the State Security Forces had already begun to mobilize to try to overthrow it.
After the publication in the first weeks of 2017 of news that alerted about Puigdemont's plans to hold a consultation not agreed upon and start up the Treasury, the general director of T-Systems in Spain, José Manuel Desco, wrote an email to Rosa María Rodríguez to ask for a "detailed report" on all the work they were doing for the Catalan tax authorities. It is unknown if the manager even sent the report to his superior, but the company maintained its collaboration with the 'procés' during the following months as if nothing had happened. A large group of T-Systems employees continued to focus on these projects, throwing in hundreds of extra hours and working even on weekends, as the company's internal communications clearly reveal.
The one that did not continue was Desco, despite the fact that since 2015 he had also shown a complete harmony with the objectives set by the Generalitat. An e-mail from July of that year proves that he was already informed of the infrastructures that the Government of Artur Mas wanted to set up. However, in May 2017, Desco was relieved of the general management of the company and provisionally replaced by the then financial director, Osmar Polo.
Secret meeting in Barcelona
Few weeks after that change in the top of T-Systems in Spain, the general director of this division of Deutsche Telekom, Reinhard Clemens, traveled from Germany to Barcelona to meet secretly with Puigdemont himself, as revealed to El Confidencial sources close to the inquiries. Polo also attended that meeting.
An internal email from T-Systems shows that the general director of the company was already aware in July 2015 that they were collaborating in the creation of the main state structures of independent Catalonia. (Click here to see the document in full size)
There is no data on the content of the meeting, but the facts indicate that it must have been very fruitful. In July 2017, Polo was directly warned by the Judicial Police that, "in the event that the company T-Systems received some contract from the Generalitat for the realization of any application or computer project that was related to the preparation of the illegal referendum on October 1, it had the obligation to communicate immediately". But the German multinational never paralyzed nor warned of anything. Not even after the referendum.
The high-rank officer is still in the company
T-Systems continues being one of the main suppliers of the Generalitat. And, paradoxically, its commitment to the independence of Catalonia has not prevented it from retaining dozens of contracts in the rest of Spain, the territory from which the firm sought to separate. Polo, already consolidated as CEO of T-Systems Iberia, said in an interview in March 2018 that the ‘procés’ has damaged “its image, not its business". "There have been many falsehoods and there have been many misrepresentations, and that has hurt us a lot; there have been clients asking us what we have done," he lamented in statements collected by 'Cinco Días'. "We have never collaborated with the 1-O", he dared to say then.
This Friday, however, the company declined to comment on El Confidencial's information. "T-Systems does not comment on legal actions or investigations so as not to interfere in ongoing processes. The company reiterates that each and every one of its actions and those of its directors are guided by compliance with current regulations and the monitoring of the practices of Good Corporate Governance and Transparency". Rosa María Rodríguez Curto continues to work in the company, despite the accusations she faces. She holds the position of vice president of sales and forms part of the company's Management Committee of the company.
https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2019-03-03/t-systems-gigante-aleman-traiciono-espana-puigdemont-independencia-cataluna_1858194/
The Generalitat spent 17 million of public money to start up the Catalan Treasury
ESTEBAN URREIZTIETA
ÁNGELES ESCRIVÁ
The Civil Guard reports to the judge that
Puigdemont diverted this amount of public money to develop the Tax Code, the
Tax Board, the Fiscal Council, the deployment of the Treasury and to increase
the workforce of these institutions.
This previously unknown information has been found
in a pen drive of the former Secretary of the Treasury Josep Lluís Salvadó and
has just been sent to the court.
It also reflects the total investment expected in
case of independence: 500 million to create a Catalan Treasury with 7,000 employees.
The Civil Guard quantifies in at least 17 million public euros the
figure deviated "effectively" by the Generalitat chaired by Carles Puigdemont to launch the Catalan Tax Agency. The Judicial Police Unit has prepared a
new report, to which EL MUNDO has had access, in which it analyzes the
documentation intervened on a pen drive that was confiscated from former
Finance Secretary Josep Lluís Salvadó.
Specifically, "a working document prepared by
the Department of Vice Presidency, Economy and Finance" on the
"coordination, supervision and monitoring of activities and measures aimed
at the creation of the Catalan state and that affect, basically, the tax
area" has been found. It reflects the funds that "effectively"
have already been arranged to obtain "full fiscal sovereignty"
through the development of a Tax Code, a Tax Board and a Fiscal Council,
increase the workforce and enhance territorial deployment.
The intervened report included a series of measures
that "are integrated into the autonomic road" but constitute "an
intermediate stage to implement many others with the ultimate goal of creating
the Catalan state and ensure its economic viability". Thus, the new documentation
confiscated from Salvadó states that "the deployment of the Tax Administration
would require 499.869.737 euros and increase the workforce to around 7,000
people without quantifying the amount necessary for the deployment of customs
or the agency of real estate property".
700 more staff
Thus, the Civil Guard stresses, "they intended
to prepare an international agreement to avoid double taxation with Spain using
the OECD model and starting from the hypothesis of guaranteeing the advantages
of applying community directives". "All this taking into account that
they proposed to create the Office of International Taxation even knowing that,
at present, they do not have competences in this matter".
"It can be affirmed", continues the
Judicial Police, "that the Department of the Vice Presidency, Economy and
Treasury has been working on the disconnection". "Specifically and
initially they are doing it until exhausting what they call autonomic way for
what they have valued assets in Catalonia with the purpose of incorporating
them into the heritage of the Generalitat, they have approved the normative
development whose main frame was established by Law 17/2017 of August 1 of the
Tax Code of Catalonia and have designed the organizational structure of the
future tax administration".
"Implementing for this purpose", adds the
Civil Guard, "the Tax Board, the Fiscal Council, the Institute of Fiscal
Studies, the Tax Agency, its territorial deployment, the implementation of the
e-SPRIU system and the improvement of the GAUDÍ system". Thus,
"without having been a normative contribution to regulate them, there is
evidence that they were working on the development of the Customs Agency, the
International Taxation Office and the Real Estate Agency".
"Based on the above and the figures"
seized from Salvadó, "it can be affirmed that part of the resources that
they had planned to spend, have been effectively arranged". For it is
clear that "the activation of the Tax Board, the Fiscal Council, the
Fiscal Research Institute and a good part of the territorial deployment of the
Tax Agency has been carried out and the workforce has increased to 700
people".
Full fiscal sovereignty
"Therefore, and without being convincingly
ratified, it can be thought that part of the resources foreseen for the
development of the Tax Code, which had been set at 200,000 euros, have been
invested; for the deployment of the Tax Board, the Fiscal Council and the
Institute of Fiscal Investigation which had a joint cost of 7,800,000 euros;
for the territorial deployment of the tax administration budgeted at 4,500,000
euros; and for the implementation of the e-SPRIU system, estimated at 4,923,848
euros.
"In summary," the researchers conclude,
"it is inferred that around 17 million euros have been invested in the
deployment of the tax administration as an intermediate stage to achieve full
fiscal sovereignty of the future Catalan state".
