LIVING

The Spanish high court is expected to deliver a ruling soon after deliberating for three years on an appeal of the charter by the conservative opposition Popular Party, which is the second party in Spain but a minority party in Catalunya.

'The dignity of Catalunya' (original in Castilian below)

After almost three years of slow deliberations and much rambling that have damaged its cohesion and eroded its prestige, the Constitutional Court seems to be on the verge of finalising a ruling on the Statute of Autonomy of Catalunya, promulgated on July 20th, 2006 by the Head of State, King Juan Carlos, with the following heading: " The Spanish Parliament has approved, the citizens of Catalunya have ratified in referendum and I sanction the following organic law". It will be the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1977 that the High Court pronounces on a fundamental law endorsed by the electorate.

Expectations are high. Expectations are high and anxieties are not scarce as evidence shows that the Constitutional Court has been pushed by events to operate as a fourth house, confronting the Catalan Parliament, the Spanish Parliament and the people’s free will expressed in referendum. We insist it is a unique situation in democracy. There are, nevertheless, more reasons for worry. Of 12 magistrates that compose the court, only 10 will be able to pass judgment, since one of them (Pablo Pérez Tremps) has been rejected after an unclear manoeuvre done to modify the balance of power during the deliberations and another (Roberto García-Calvo) has died.

Of the 10 judges with right to vote, four are continuing in their roles after the expiry of their mandate, as a consequence of the sordid disagreement between the Government and the opposition on the renewal of an organ defined recently by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as the "heart of democracy". A heart with clogged valves, since only half of its members are today free of mishap or the need to extend their mandate. Such is the supreme court that is on the verge of deciding on the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Out of consideration for the court—a respect undoubtedly higher than the one it has appeared to have for itself on several occasions—we will not refer more to the causes of the delay in the ruling.