The newly elected Catalan parliament has met after a failed attempt at secession from Spain last year. The question remains whether sacked leader Carles Puigdemont will be allowed to present himself for re-election.
Image: Reuters/A. Gea
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The new Catalan parliament convened for the first time on Wednesday following last month's elections. Questions about the region's future loomed large as several imprisoned lawmakers were unable to attend the session.
Yellow ribbons symbolizing a protest against Spain's judicial probe over last year's failed secession attempt were placed on the empty seats of absent independence lawmakers.
Making way for the leader
Pro-independence parties won a slim majority in the 135-seat assembly during the December elections and used their majority to elect a separatist as parliamentary speaker. Left-wing ERC party member Roger Torrent was elected in a 65-56 vote.
"I want democracy and coexistence to be the foundations of this term," said Torrent, who was elected to head the assembly's governing committee, which plays an instrumental role in deciding who leads the regional government.
Secessionist lawmakers have a clear majority in the committee, with four of its seven members hailing from pro-independence parties. It may be able to interpret parliamentary rules to allow Puigdemont to rule from his self-imposed exile in Brussels.
Pro-independence politician Roger Torrent was elected the regional parliament's speakerImage: Getty Images/L. AFP/
'The spirit of free people'
The election of the governing committee was the first step in a plan by pro-independence lawmakers to place ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont back in power.
Puigdemont has suggested he could govern Catalonia via video conference, including using an app called Skype. The idea has been dismissed by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the Catalan parliament's lawyers.
Catalonia's former leader on Wednesday harshly criticized Spanish authorities on Twitter as the regional parliament convened. "We will show them that there is nothing that can bend the spirit of free people," he wrote while tweeting a video that showed a police crackdown on voters who took part in an outlawed independence referendum in October last year.
Catalonia's independence movement — a brief history
The desire of many Catalans to gain independence from Spain has a long history. The region has experienced varying levels of autonomy and repression over the centuries.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archivo
Rich ancient heritage
Catalonia has been settled by the Phoenicians, the Etruscans and the Greeks, who were mainly in the coastal areas of Rosas and Empuries (above). Then came the Romans, who built more settlements and infrastructure. Catalonia remained a part of the Roman Empire until it was conquered by the Visigoths in the fifth century.
Image: Caos30
Counties and independence
Catalonia was conquered by Arabs in 711 AD. The Frankish king Charlemagne stopped their advance at Tours on the Loire River and, by 759, the north of Catalonia was once again Christian. In 1137, the counties that made up Catalonia entered an alliance with the Crown of Aragon.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archiv
Autonomy and the war of succession
In the 13th century, the institutions of Catalan self-administration were created under the banner of the Generalitat de Catalunya. After the unification of the Crown of Aragon with that of Castile in 1476, Aragon was largely able to keep its autonomic institutions. However, the Catalan revolt — from 1640 to 1659 — saw parts of Catalonia ceded to present-day France.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archivo
Remembrance of defeat
After the conquest of Barcelona on September 11, 1714, by the Bourbon King Phillip V, Catalan instuitutions were dissolved and self-administration came to an end. Every year, on September 11, Catalans commemorate the end of their right to autonomy.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Gene
Federal ideas in wider republic
After the abdication of King Amadeo I of Spain, the first Spanish Republic was declared in February 1873. It lasted barely a year. The supporters of the Republic were split – one group supporting the idea of a centralized republic, the others wanting a federal system. Pictured here is Francisco Pi i Maragall, a supporter of federalism and one of five presidents of the short-lived republic.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archivo
Failed attempt
Catalonia sought to establish a new state within the Spanish republic, but this only served to exacerbate the differences between republicans, ultimately dividing and weakening them. In 1874, the monarchy and the House of Bourbon (led by King Alfonso XII, pictured here) took the helm.
Image: picture-alliance/Quagga Illustrations
Catalan Republic
Between 1923 — with the support of the monarchy, the army and the church — General Primo de Rivera declared a dictatorship. Catalonia became a center of opposition and resistance. After the end of the dictatorship, the politician Francesc Macia (pictured here) successfully pressed for important rights of autonomy for Catalonia.
The end of freedom
In the Second Spanish Republic, Catalan lawmakers worked on the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. This was approved by the Spanish parliament in 1932. Francesc Macia was elected president of the Generalitat of Catalonia by the Catalan parliament. However, the victory of Franco at the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) put an end to all that.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Loss of liberties
The Franco regime ruled with an iron rod. Political parties were banned and the Catalan language and culture were surpressed.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
New autonomy by statute
After the first parliamentary elections that followed the end of the Franco dictatorship, the Generalitat of Catalonia was provisionally restored. Under the democratic Spanish constitution of 1978, Catalonia was given a new Statute of Autonomy just a year later.
The new Statute of Autonomy recognized the autonomy of Catalonia and the importance of the Catalan language. In comparison to the 1932 statute, it was enhanced in the fields of culture and education but curtailed when it came to the realm of justice. Pictured here is Jordi Pujol, the long-time head of the government of Catalonia after the dictatorship.
Image: Jose Gayarre
Stronger self-awareness
A desire for independence has grown stronger in recent years. In 2006, Catalonia was given a new statute that broadened the Catalan government's powers. However, it lost these after a complaint by the conservative Popular Party to the Constitutional Court of Spain.
Image: Reuters/A.Gea
First referendum
A referendum on independence was already envisaged for November 9, 2014. The first question was "Do you want Catalonia to become a state?" In the case of an affirmative answer, the second question was posed: "Do you want this state to be independent?" However, the Constitutional Court suspended the vote.
Image: Reuters/G. Nacarino
Clash of the titans
Since January 2016, Carles Puigdemont has been president of the Catalan government. He proceeded with the separatist course of his predecessor Artur Mas and called the new referendum for October 1, 2017. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed this as unconstitutional.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Lago
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Jailed lawmakers seek voting rights
Three of the assembly's lawmakers are currently in jail on charges relating to Catalonia's failed independence bid last year. On Wednesday, they sought permission from the regional parliament to allow them to cast proxy votes with the help of colleagues.
Besides Puigdemont, four other re-elected Catalan lawmakers are in Brussels and face legal hurdles to participating in parliamentary business.
Rajoy's government dissolved Catalonia's regional parliament and called the December vote after the regional lawmakers declared unilateral independence following an October referendum that was ruled illegal.
