A SECOND Scottish independence referendum is “good news for democracy around the world”, a former president of Catalonia has said in a letter to the First Minister.
Quim Torra, the former head of the Catalan government, wrote to Nicola Sturgeon to congratulate Scotland on plans to hold a second independence vote in October 2023.
The First Minister, alongside Greens co-leader and minister Patrick Harvie, launched the first in a series of papers making the case for an independent Scotland on Tuesday.
The following day, Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson said the Government intends to hold indyref2 in October next year.
The SNP’s position is that this will happen with or without the UK Government providing a Section 30 order – allowing Holyrood to legislate in areas which would otherwise be outwith its competence.
Writing to Sturgeon, Torra said that the announcements were an example to Catalonia, giving independence activists in the nation “motivation”.
READ IN FULL: Former Catalan president Quim Torra's letter to Nicola Sturgeon
Hailing a second Scottish independence vote as “good news for democrats in Europe and around the world”, the former president wrote: “Scotland and Catalonia are sister nations, friends, and striving to be free in a Europe that is respectful of peoples and nations.
“You have expressed your determination to hold the independence referendum announced for next year with or without the permission of the British Government. That deserves full support and solidarity from democrats around the world.”
Torra said that he “will always remember” a conversation he had with Sturgeon on meeting her in Edinburgh in July 2018, just two months after he had been sworn in as president.
He wrote: “Above all, we were able to share this determination to persist and to continue advancing in the recovery of full sovereignty, a determination that you now embody so well.
“Commitment to independence is a commitment to democracy in Scotland and Catalonia, and therefore also in the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain.
“At this time, for our peoples, sovereignty is synonymous with democracy and justice and freedom. And for this reason, I want to offer you all the support you need from Catalonia on this journey towards the exercise of self-determination that you are determined to fulfil. Count on us for what you need.”
Torra also addressed the Scottish Government’s stated plan to hold a vote without the permission of the UK Government if needs be, writing: “The best scenario will always be a process of self-determination agreed with London or Madrid. But it is also true that the refusal of a democratic demand such as that of the Scottish and Catalan people must not impede the determination to carry it out.
“Voting, ballot boxes, and democracy cannot be stopped by the interests and will of governments many miles away.”
The former president said he “sincerely hoped” Scotland would become independent in 2023, adding: “May it be born in good health and with all the strength that sovereignty bestows.”
From May 2018, Torra led the Catalan parliament as an independent member of the JuntsxCat electoral alliance.
In 2019, nine Catalan pro-independence leaders were sentenced to time behind bars on crimes of sedition for their role in holding the referendum in their nation on October 1, 2017.
Torra initially named two jailed politicians, and two who had gone into exile, as ministers in his cabinet, but this was blocked by the Spanish authorities.
He was removed from office by Spain’s supreme court in late 2020 after he refused to take down ribbons and other symbols supporting the jailed pro-independence leaders from his government palace.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Parliament has an indisputable democratic mandate to hold an independence referendum, and we intend to honour it.
“The First Minister has also made it absolutely clear that we are committed to a lawful referendum, which is essential if it is to be deliverable, command confidence, and be recognised internationally.”
