Pujol favours withdrawing Statute if concepts changed

THE former leader of the Catalan government, Jordi Pujol, said in Palma yesterday that he favoured “withdrawing” the Catalan Statute if, during the proceedings, the Congress change its “three key guidelines”, which in his opinion are the recognitition of the Catalan identity, responsibilities and finance. The Statute agreed by the Catalan Parliament “is good” but there are no guarantees that it will pass the the negotiation process which has now started in Congress, he added. Pujol was speaking before giving a lecture in Palma on “The Mediterranean Axis: its weight in Europe”.
He claimed that Congress is trying “to impose a lesser Statute” which would cause problems, and should be analysed. Commenting on the presentation in Congress by the Catalan politicians, he said “the people of Catalonia can be proud of their parliament.” See Jaume Matas's opinion on page 3.