Newsletter N.

5 5/12/10

Alfons Lpez Tena: Citizens have to be able to elect their representatives in the regional councils and in the county commissions

Santi Niell, SI coordinator in the Girona region and Alfons Lpez Tena, member elected of Parliament for Barcelona have appeared this morning in Girona for a press conference to evaluate the results obtained by SI and to explain the strategy of the coalition for the independence for the next local elections. Santi Niell has considered very positive the 4,85% of votes obtained by Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia (SI) in Girona and so the entrance in the Parliament of Toni Strubell,

being almost the same percentage obtained by consolidated parties like ICV-EUiA, and taking into account some factors as the existing competence in Girona among the independentist electorate. Niell has remarked the homogeneity of votes through the territory stating that we have had electors in 219 municipalities out of 221. I must highlight the following regions: Girons, Garrotxa and El Pla de lEstany, where the percentage has been more than 5%.

He also stated that we are not going to stop now, as we have new challenges and in two months our political organization will consolidate at regional and local level and we must call an election to elect the government bodies of SI in the territory, so as to direct and draw up a plan for the task we must develop in order to obtain big results in the local elections next May. Niell has called the local independentism so as to join forces with all those willing to share the same approach of democratic regeneration, stating that SI is committed to prepare the lists under the same idea of primary elections, meaning that the members will choose the candidates. The local strategy of SI will have four programmatic axes: To fight against the belligerency about competences by which the Catalan municipalities bear delegated competences without having resources. To fight against the local pattern of ACM and FMC that is ancient and exhausted. To eliminate the opacity of the bodies with democratic deficits, e.g. the regional councils and the county commissions, proposing the direct election by citizens of these bodies that have important economic resources, that are completely opaque and that the party machinery currently manages. To eliminate the pattern of small town councils living in poverty and big town councils being used by the parties that fill them up with advisors and partisan privileges. In short, Niell stated that SI is willing to add up efforts with all the independentist forces that desire to run in the elections with us, as we have already the support of our 4 members of the Parliament and for this reason our proposals can be visualized and people can figure out a new scenario and a new way for developing politics at local level.

On his side, Alfons Lpez Tena has criticized the serious democratic shortages in the Catalan political system, as it is very difficult to enter the Parliament if you are not there before. Despite it, citizens have trusted us. Lpez Tena stated that the performance of SI during this term will be to highlight that the autonomy is terminated after the Constitutional Court ruling, as there is no possibility to move forward inside the Spanish state, and the way to leave from the crisis is that Spain will stop stealing us. According to Lpez Tena, the Statute was an unsuccessful adventure. Lpez Tena insisted that it cannot be accepted the existence of big civil services having high budgets, completely opaque and that citizens are not allowed neither to elect nor to dismiss them, e.g. regional councils and the county commissions, that must be governed democratically. Lpez Tena stated that they will fight for that in the Parliament and warned if traditional parties are going on with this authoritarian system, our members will elect democratically the members representing SI in these bodies. Lpez Tena has demanded to the government to be made up by Artur Mas that its only aim should be to recover the money that Spain steals to us, because the Catalan Government (Generalitat) is going bankrupt, the city councils are going partly-bankrupt and Catalan people are paying enough money in taxes to have a first level public service. Lastly, he has denounced the situation similar to the existing in North Korea by which 4 members of the Parliament cannot have parliamentarian initiatives, and this is an antidemocratic limitation not existing in the Spanish Parliament. Lpez Tena has also announced that as we see that CIU have committed themselves to the autonomy way and are not willing to initiate a transition term towards the independence, we will vote no on the vote of confidence in the two rounds and no on the presidency of the Parliament. Girona, December 1, 2010 Press Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia Girona region

Comissi de Relacions Poltiques Internacionals de Solidaritat Catalana per la Independncia

relacionspolitiquesinternacional@solidaritatcatalana.cat http://www.solidaritatcatalana.cat/