“The hardest thing is to dare”

A few hours before President Mas announced his roadmap, another meeting of Moment Zero took place at the cultural centre in El Born, this time led by the Secretary of Universities, Antoni Castellà. Castellà is part of the Unió Party's go-verning committee and his position in favour of independence for Catalonia is well-known, contrasting with that of party leader, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida.

In El Born yesterday, Castellà reaffirmed his beliefs and went a step further by forcefully defending that a referendum be held on the country's future “for us and for the international community”. However, with the route of collaboration with the state now exhausted, Castellà defended the idea of holding elections, whether “Catalan or Spanish”. Prudent in his declarations, the member of Unió admitted there would be many difficulties along the way. “Regional elections may be challenged, but we must be able to hold a referendum even through Spanish elections, let's see if they are challenged”, he said. On the importance of finding a legal framework in which to fit the referendum, Castellà called for “party unity” and “leaving party names aside”. “Then everyone can show their own roadmap”, he added.

According to Castellà, that point will be “the beginning” of the process
towards independence, which he concedes will be “long, expensive and complicated, so patience will be needed”, with everyone needing to “remain on the same track”.