Matas favours a waiting game for home rule charter

THE dispute over the proposed new Statute (home rule charter) for Catalonia, which refers to itself as a “nation”, continues to cause shock waves throughout the country. Yesterday, Balearic leader Jaume Matas said that he thought it “logical” that approval of the proposed changes to the local Statute should be frozen in the local Parliament, until the Catalan text is approved. He was speaking after the opening of a meeting of the Judicial Power Council.
He added that the Balearic text could be studied but “it is evident that whatever happens with the Catalan text will affect us” and so it is better to “postpone approval at least.” He went on to say that the central government should not give privileges or concessions to the Catalan government to the detriment of other regions.
Matas said the current situation of uncertainty could “break the rules of the game” in the matter of finance, because it would convert a debate which should be multilateral into negotiations between two. Asked about the possibility of the future Balearic Statute including full responsibility for immigration, he added that this would probably be unconstitutional, but that partial responsibility would certainly be debated. He repeated previous statements to the effect that any changes to the Statute must be in keeping with the Constitution and hold to “the principle of equality.”