Now that Yolanda Díaz was focusing all the focuses of her campaign on her proposals to “improve people's lives” and on talking about the problems of mortgages, rents, salaries or the shopping basket, the commons have disturbed that strategic axis by recovering the claim to hold an independence referendum in Catalonia.

This topic has arisen during the presentation of the candidacy of En Comú Podem (the Catalan brand integrated into Sumar) for the general elections, where the head of the list, Aina Vidal, has advocated for the inclusion of the self-determination consultation in the “program electoral” of the coalition for the 23-J.

“In the referendum we are where we have always been. Catalonia must vote on its future. It will form part of our electoral program”, Vidal pointed out when asked by the media, in statements collected by Europa Press, at the presentation ceremony in Sabadell.

This response, which recovers a thorny issue and which has always generated conflict within the space of the alternative left to the PSOE, has caught Sumar off guard, since it was not a hot issue that was on the table right now or that generated a debate internal for inclusion.

Official sources from Sumar assured this newspaper yesterday that the self-determination referendum will not be part of the electoral program of 23-J, but instead it will bet on defending that the Catalans can vote for the agreement that results from the “dialogue table”. between the Government and the Generalitat. By way of “ratification”.

This is right now Sumar's official position for these elections, although the sources consulted add that the commons “defend what they have always defended for Catalonia” and that the referendum has always been a “horizon” for the future in that position.

The consultation in the 2019 and 2021 program

The defense of a consultation by the Catalan confluence is not in itself a novelty. It is the position that this party has been maintaining since the years of the process and that its leader, Ada Colau, has defended on countless occasions as a democratic solution to the lace of Catalonia. Pablo Iglesias then made it his own and formed part of the political position of Podemos, despite the electoral cost and some internal criticism.

Without going any further, this issue was included in the Podemos program for the November 2019 general elections.. Item 281: “Democratic resolution of the Catalan conflict. The viable management of the conflict in Catalonia involves building a reconciliation process that allows for dialogue and reaching agreements. We bet on an agreed referendum in which Podemos will defend a new lace for Catalonia in Spain”.

In February 2021, in the program for the regional elections in Catalonia, the commons maintained the request for an agreed referendum. It was proposed “to agree on a law to establish the procedure, conditions, qualified majorities and the interpretation of any popular consultation by means of a referendum on the modification of the political status of Catalonia and the communities of the State”. In this sense, it was requested to adapt Canada's clarity law: “competence to hold a referendum, respect for democratic and federal principles and for the rule of law, clear rules for interpreting the result of the consultation and obligation, of both governments, to negotiate loyally to carry out the necessary legislative and constitutional changes that allow the popular will to be put into effect”.

Now, in the absence of an electoral program as such from Sumar, which will not see the light of day until next week at the earliest, the platform has 35 documents that structure the main lines of Díaz's country project. One of them refers to the intention of creating a “new territorial model” that would have as its essence the “recognition” of the “national plurality” of Spain and the reconciliation of that condition with “an integrating idea of the nation.”

Throughout that document, the demand for an independence referendum is avoided, as Podemos had assimilated, and it defends going beyond autonomy with a strong commitment to “self-government” and “shared government”.. A “new territorial contract”, it is stressed, that would have a “federal character” and that would allow the “necessary changes to facilitate a harmonious fit of the legitimate claims around the reform processes of the autonomous statutes” to be articulated at different rates.

The second section of the Provincial Court of A Coruña has sentenced a National Police agent who stole a mobile phone while investigating the theft of several terminals at a phone shop in the city to thirteen months in prison and disqualification. The sentence, dated June 20, released this Thursday by the Superior Court of Xustiza in Galicia, condemns the agent for the crime of theft with the aggravating circumstance of his role at that time.

The proven facts show that on July 16, 2017 there was a robbery at a telephone store in A Coruña, which the thieves accessed through a hole in the ceiling.. The store staff alerted the National Police, who sent a crew that included the now convicted agent, who saw what had happened and took the opportunity to steal a mobile phone.

“Taking advantage of the disorder generated in the establishment and that the person in charge, due to her status as an official of the National Police Corps, was not going to suspect his behavior or pay special attention to him, the defendant surreptitiously seized one of the mobile terminals that were in the establishment, specifically a Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Blue phone, whose retail price was 722 euros,” he says.

The Court explains that “he took it from the premises and kept it for himself, in the belief that, given the number of stolen devices, the person in charge of the business would think that he was part of those who initially took the author or authors of the robbery “.

For this reason, he has been sentenced to thirteen months in prison and disqualification from working as a police officer during the time of the sentence.. You must also compensate the store with 722 euros, the value of the stolen terminal, and pay the costs derived from the cause.

The acting government of Ximo Puig has provoked the indignation of the Popular Party with two institutional statements that underline the most controversial points of the PP-Vox agreement. In its last two plenary sessions, the Botànic has taken the opportunity to declare the Generalitat against gender violence just a few days after the signing of the pact that will make Carlos Mazón president and where the term “domestic violence” is included, a message that the popular will take to the electoral board considering that they collect messages of “political propaganda”.

This Thursday, and on the occasion of the Pride Day celebration marches next Saturday, it focuses on LGTBI rights. It does so just two days after Náquera, the only council governed by Vox with the support of the PP, prohibited the display of rainbow flags in institutional buildings and rallies against sexist violence.

These two positions of the Consell expressed by the vice president and spokesperson, Aitana Mas, the PP considers that they are trying to “contaminate the electoral campaign of 23J by attacking the political formations that signed the agreement for a new government of the Generalitat” and, for this reason, it has presented a complaint to the Provincial Electoral Board of Valencia in which it requests that a disciplinary file be opened against Mas. Specifically, in his letter he assures that the message institutionalizes against gender violence, “in reality it served to attack the political formations PP and Vox signatories of the agreement for a new Government of the Generalitat”.

“The vice president and spokesperson, Aitana Mas, used the forum and her institutional position to deliver messages of a marked electoral nature with direct attacks on the Popular Party,” the complaint points out.

As explained by the PPCV campaign director, Miguel Barrachina, “it is immoral that a government in office, which is on its way out, dedicates itself to trying to influence the electoral campaign with partisan decisions that are out of place” and that the spokesperson for the Consell use the forum and your institutional position to spread messages of a marked electoral nature with direct attacks on the PP, violating the prohibition contained in the Electoral Law”.

“The PSPV and Compromís must cease their sectarian and partisan attitude now because it is illegal to use the Consell and its press conferences for their electoral campaign. They were already constantly warned by the electoral board during the regional campaign, and now that they are in office, they continue to use it without any modesty for their own partisan propaganda,” he insisted.

The statement on the occasion of the celebration of LGTBI Pride Day reviews the laws promoted by the Botànic and ends with a direct message to the new Council in which Vox will sit with three portfolios: “The next government must maintain the same level of dialogue and agreement with the LGTBI associative movement, as well as guaranteeing public services available to LGTBI people, their families and environment. The Valencian Community must continue to be a land of rights, respect and equality”.

For Vice President Mas, there is no intention of extracting “partisan revenue” from these statements. “The LGTBI declaration is made every year and we continue to function, yes, but this does not compromise the future but the present. As a government, we are not afraid to express that we must keep intact the rights that we have struggled to achieve and that the European Union recognizes,” said the spokeswoman, who leaves it up to the new Consell to qualify whether these rights are “in danger or not”. :”If that is going to change in the future, I am not the one who has to explain it”.

“Democratic administrations must act as such. You have to be up to the task. If they want to use the complaints to intimidate us, they will not succeed.. As the government that we still are, we have the responsibility to govern for everyone and to show concern about issues that have created social alarm.. We are not going to stop governing or lower our arms. We'll make a smooth transition. We continue to function without compromising the future, but committed to our policies until the last day,” he warned.

How long the Consell del Botànic will be in office is still unknown. Despite the fact that the Cortes will be constituted next Monday the 26th, there is no date for the investiture of Carlos Mazón as the new president. His wish is that it be “as quickly as possible” but the deadlines indicate that it could arrive the week of July 17, in the middle of the electoral campaign. Until then, Puig will preside over the Council, which will meet again next week and could do so up to two more times.

Vox has proposed to its affiliates a reform of its statutes that includes as a serious infraction any demonstration that “damages the public image” of the party, its organs or its affiliates. It also penalizes non-compliance with the “instructions” given by the training for public statements on social networks or the media.

The formation led by Santiago Abascal celebrates this Saturday its ordinary General Assembly, which includes the approval of the accounts for the year 2022, the report of the general secretary and a proposal to reform the statutes that will be submitted to the verdict of the affiliates.

The document, to which Europa Press has had access, Vox modifies its sanctioning regime to include as a serious infraction “verbal or written statements by any means that damage the public image of the party or any of its collegiate bodies, its members and affiliates “. All this, he points out, “without prejudice to the right of any affiliate to exercise criticism or issue an opinion on the policies and strategic lines adopted by the competent bodies.”

Vox will also sanction with the same seriousness “repeated non-compliance with the instructions given in relation to acts of public communication, on social networks or ordinary media.”

Failure to comply with these postulates may lead to the suspension of their rights for members in a period between six months and two years or the disqualification to perform a position or function within the formation; although incurring these serious sanctions repeatedly can end in the expulsion of the party, as contemplated in the statutes.

With the new wording, affiliates will also be required to keep the deliberations and agreements of the government bodies and institutional groups to which they belong secret.

The reform also includes a new section to regulate that affiliation with Vox is incompatible with affiliation with another party or group of voters, as long as there is no authorization from the territorially competent Executive Committee.

Create and delete organs

The statutory reform also affects the structure of the party, so that the National Executive Committee – the one headed by the president, Santiago Abascal, and made up of the vice-presidents and vice-secretaries – will have the power to create new bodies, modify them or even dissolve the existing ones. Of course, it points out that in no case can it create new bodies with sanctioning power.

Vox also supports the powers of the Political Action Committee, its hard core, made up of Abascal, the general secretary and those they designate themselves.. It is the one that meets weekly to analyze current political events and the one that its vice-president and MEP Jorge Buxadé usually acts as spokesperson for.

The reform of the statutes grants this body competence to, “when necessary, guide the political activity of all parliamentary and municipal groups, as well as public officials who exercise government or management responsibilities in any territorial or institutional entity of the Public administration”.

The new statutes also grant the president of the party direct jurisdiction over the National Electoral Office, which is in charge of the administrative organization of electoral campaigns and the body that deals with the relationship with the Electoral Boards.

Regulatory Compliance Committee

Vox also creates a new body called the Regulatory Compliance Committee which, according to the text that will be put to the vote, will have as its mission “the establishment of protocols for the prevention of illegal actions, risk control, and the development and supervision of the organization and management provided for in the Penal Code”.

Its function, as detailed, will be to ensure compliance with the law, supervise the operation and compliance with the organizational model, the effectiveness of the party's internal controls and train employees and public officials “on the prevention model and their responsibilities “, in order to avoid a situation of criminal risk.