An advisory body has told the Catalan Government that the best moment to call a referendum on Catalan independence spreads between late August and December 2014, taking into account the fact that it is desirable that the vote does not coincide with any other election. The recommendation also says that the question should be "clear" and the result should be "easy to implement". In the light of this, the body advises to ask a "yes-no" question on whether citizens want Catalonia to become an independent state.

The Catalan Government received these recommendations yesterday from the Advisory Council for the National Transition (CATN, Catalan acronym), a body that was established in February 2013 with the aim of analyzing which legal means can be used to call a guarantee-based referendum. The CATN is mainly made up of university professors.

The two main parties of the Catalan Parliament (centre-right Convergence and Union, CiU, and centre-left Republican Left, ERC) agreed in December 2012 to hold a referendum in 2014. Ecosocialist Initiative for Catalonia (ICV) and democratic socialist Popular Unity Candidates (CUP) also back the holding of a referendum. Those four parties hold 87 out of 135 seats in the Catalan Parliament. On the other hand, centre-left Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) says the referendum should only be held if the Spanish authorities agree to. Spanish nationalist Popular Party (PP) and Citizens (C's) reject the referendum.

Legal framework for the referendum

The body says that there are five legal means to hold the referendum. Three of them depend exclusively on the Spanish state, which either could call itself the referendum, devolve powers to Catalonia under current Article 150.2 of the Spanish Constitution so that the Catalan Government can call the referendum, or directly change the Constitution. The fourth way would imply that the Catalan Government asked the Spanish Government permission to hold a referendum under a 2010 Catalan law. And the fifth way would have the Catalan Government calling the referendum under a new law that is currently going through the Catalan Parliament.

If the referendum was finally called and held, the CATN says that a simple majority of the votes cast should be enough to consider the result as valid, provided that a turnout of at least 50% + 1 has been reached.

Alternative ways if the referendum is not allowed

The report by the CATN also considers what could happen if the Spanish state effectively prevents Catalonia from holding the referendum. In this case, the advisory body says that Catalan parliamentary elections could be used as a de facto plebiscite on independence. If the Spanish authorities also prevented these elections from being held, the CATN says Catalonia could have enough democratic legitimacy to unilaterally declare independence.

Further information:

• Nationalia: Parliament declares Catalan people "a sovereign political and legal subject" and Catalonia to hold referendum on independence in 2014