The Constitutional addresses the legality of the declaration of sovereignty

Question

The full address of the Constitutional Court today divided, the legality of the declaration of sovereignty of Catalonia approved by the regional parliament on January 23, 2013 and contested by the government two months later. The declaration defines Catalonia as a "legal and political sovereign subject " and that statement was what led the Executive to contest it.

The only overlap between the eleven current membership of the full (after the death of Francisco Hernando) is that Catalonia is not sovereign. However, discrepancies extend over everything else, even on the jurisdiction of the court to declare unconstitutional the declaration of a regional parliament.

Therefore, to advance in the debate that will open formally later, the president of the Constitutional, Francisco Pérez de los Cobos has previously chosen to raise them in this city, but not in the agenda, to be matched that allow passing a sentence as soon as possible.

That is the intention which has moved several judges Cobos: resolve, when before, on the legality of the declaration of the Constitutional sovereignty decided to stay in May and then ratified in July.

The Government hesitated to apply to the Constitutional consider that the declaration had no legal value. However, with the assent of the Council of State, ended up considering that " does not support the allocation of national sovereignty to Spanish village established in the Constitution" and the constitutional guarantee of " indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, homeland common and indivisible part of all Spaniards. "

The vice president of the Constitutional and the second room, Adela Asúa, is responsible for drafting the paper that the bottom of the sovereignty declaration addressed. The discussion provides hard because, according to sources of the court, the agreement is only unanimous on one issue: Catalonia is not sovereign. However, from there to the declaration of sovereignty is declared unconstitutional, there is an entire discussion, the sources said.

To begin with, among the judges of the Constitutional some believe that this itself is the competent body to review the claim, while others question it is the court which has to decide on a matter that, in his opinion, should be under the control other political bodies.

Nor is there agreement, for the moment, whether the declaration of sovereignty be analyzed alone or whether to consider as part of a process that has continued with the agreement on the questions, cross letters between President the Generalitat, Artur Mas, and the Government, Mariano Rajoy, and the request to hold the consultation skills.

The debate also elucidate if finally the judges of the Constitutional choose to teaching mode, provide ideas about the way to reform the constitution, in regard to the referendum.

The inclusion of the judgment as a precedent - denying Quebec independence unilaterally, without negotiation with the rest of Canada, or the first judgment on the Ibarretxe plan, which rejected the government's handling of the challenge to the plan - are other outstanding issues discuss.