The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) considers that the current deadlock regarding Popular Legislative Initiatives raises serious doubts about the effectiveness of the fundamental rights protection system in Spain.
Assemblea joins the appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in defence of free debate and unrestricted freedom of expression in the Catalan Parliament. The ANC supports the lawsuit filed on January 13, 2025, by the Commission Promoting the Popular Legislative Initiative (PLI) for the Regulation of Catalonia’s Political Status. This initiative began in 2024 with two PLIs that were blocked—either by the Parliament’s board or by rulings by the Spanish Constitutional Court at the request of the Spanish government. This year, both initiatives were merged and presented in Strasbourg as a single case, now awaiting admissibility.
In ECHR proceedings, it is helpful and beneficial to the case when civil society organisations express their support for the appeal. These endorsements are included as annexes to the submission and help the court evaluate public backing for the initiative. In this sense, the ANC joins the appeal for the following reasons:
- This case directly affects the right of citizens to political participation through PLIs, an essential mechanism of participatory democracy that complements the representative system and is constitutionally recognised in Spain. It is particularly concerning that decisions by a legislative assembly affecting the admissibility or processing of a PLI are not subject to judicial review by ordinary courts, as current Spanish legislation provides no such recourse.
- Reserving the sole authority to review decisions of the Catalan Parliament’s board by the Constitutional Court violates fundamental rights protected by the ECHR—specifically the right of access to a court, the right to an effective remedy, and the right to a fair trial. The Constitutional Court’s refusal to admit the appeal for consideration is especially alarming given the constitutional relevance of the issue, both due to the substance of the rejected PLI and the intensity of the fundamental rights violations reported.
The ANC concludes that this situation raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of fundamental rights protections in Spain—both regarding the right to political participation, which was undermined by preventing parliamentary debate on a citizen-led initiative, and due to the rejection of the constitutional appeal against the Parliament’s board’s decision.