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In the current political debate on the future of Catalonia the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) supports the Catalan right to vote on their independence. The original referendum scheduled for November 9 was suspended by the Spanish Constitutional court on legal grounds, a move which pushed the Catalan government to pursue the form of “citizens’ consultation” on the same scheduled date.

LYMEC president Vedrana Gujic stresses: “The right to vote and the freedom of expression are one of the basic citizens’ rights which are currently being denied to the people in Catalonia. A wide social and political majority in Catalonia is asking for a right to freely decide on its political future and that request should not be ignored, but rather pursued by a peaceful and civilised form of a referendum.”

In the light of the Europe-wide discussion on the same topic, LYMEC would like to urge the European institutions to refrain from interfering in the decision making processes inside the member states and giving comments on the future of potential new-born states in Europe. “Primarily we have to wait for the results of the referendum in Catalonia. All debates on organisational and legal setup should be done after that. For now it is important to have a clear guarantee of the right for people in Catalonia to be asked about their political future. That is the only way to attain a politically and democratically strengthened Europe.”, says Gujic.