A referendum now, not a substitute narrative

INTRODUCTION

“The Head of Government has placed the calling of the referendum after ratification by the European Parliament, in line with the commitments he claims to have made over the past eight years.”

THE PREMISE: THE ELECTION MANIFESTO

Recently, the governing party and its media chorus have been trying to establish the narrative that the governing parties have always said the referendum would come after ratification by the European Parliament.

“That is what we have always said,” they insist.

The Head of Government even described those of us who, he says, are “in such a hurry” to hold the referendum as “hyperventilating.”

Is this really “impatience”, or is it citizens demanding that an elected politician honour an electoral pledge?

What had Demòcrates per Andorra, Ciutadans Compromesos, Liberals and Acció committed themselves to?

The definitive source is the election manifesto, shared by all four parties, with which they secured an absolute majority at the last election, in April 2023.

Election manifestos set out the commitments political parties make to their voters and to the electorate as a whole, who are entitled to hold them to account when they fail to fulfil what those manifestos say.

An election manifesto is the text against which a government’s actions must be judged.

If an essential aspect is breached, that failure will surely have a negative impact at the ballot box.

What does the governing majority’s manifesto for the last general election say about the referendum?

It states, literally:

“During 2024, the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU should take place, with a binding referendum in Andorra held beforehand.”

To begin with, there is only one date: 2024.

Not 2025, not 2026, not 2027, nor…

Only 2024.

During 2024, “the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU should take place.”

And before “the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU should take place”, there must be “a binding referendum in Andorra held beforehand.”

THE THREE CONCLUSIONS:

The literal wording of the election manifesto therefore makes three (3) things clear:

1. That “during 2024, the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU should take place.”

Not 2025.

Not 2026.

Not 2027…

2. That whether “the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU” take place in 2024 or at any other time—hence the conditional wording “should”—such ratification entails “a binding referendum in Andorra held beforehand.”

Thus, the holding of “a binding referendum in Andorra” comes “before” “the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU”.

The parties in the governing majority insist that the referendum will precede the “ratification procedures on the part of Andorra”, forgetting that their manifesto adds “and also on the part of the EU”.

The referendum must therefore be held before the “ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU”.

Nowhere does the election manifesto of Demòcrates per Andorra, Ciutadans Compromesos, Liberals and Acció subordinate Andorra to the EU ratification process, as they now want us to believe.

Nowhere.

Probably because, had they said so, we would not have voted for their manifesto.

Quite the opposite: the manifesto refers to the “ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU”, placing Andorra’s interests and wishes first, and those of the EU second, as it should be—and as some seem to have forgotten.

In any event, “a binding referendum in Andorra” must be held before “the ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU”.

Before means before, not after.

The European Parliament’s approval of the text of the Agreement is a fundamental stage in the EU’s ratification procedure.

The governing majority’s election manifesto does not say “upon completion of the ratification procedures”.

It says that “a binding referendum in Andorra” must be held before “the ratification procedures (…) on the part of the EU”.

According to the election manifesto of Demòcrates, Ciutadans Compromesos, Liberals and Acció, therefore, **the binding referendum in Andorra must precede—not follow—**the “ratification procedures on the part of Andorra and also on the part of the EU”, such as the European Parliament’s approval stage.

And 3. The referendum was promised as “binding”, with a legally enforceable outcome: people should be able to go to court—and win—if the popular will is not respected.

But we already know that, according to the title, explanatory memorandum and provisions of its recent Regulations, the referendum would be merely consultative. This is because the governing majority, despite having that majority and the ease with which it could have secured the support of the other parliamentary groups—Concòrdia, Andorra Endavant and PS—has chosen not to draw up a law, or amend the existing one, to define it as binding.

The Regulations were drawn up late—well into 2026—and half-heartedly, as I have already demonstrated in another article in this same publication: they are simply a “cut-and-paste” of existing legislation.

Some cheerleaders for the governing majority exclaim: “The Constitution does NOT allow any binding referendum other than a constitutional referendum.”

A bold assertion, because nowhere does the Constitution prohibit this. It merely ensures that a constitutional referendum is binding, without preventing others from being binding too.

And this one clearly more than deserves to be legally designated as binding.

What is not prohibited is permitted.

And that is what they committed themselves to in their manifesto.

Furthermore, the Constitution dates from 1993 and the election manifesto from 2023.

A gap of 30 years.

That leaves only two possibilities:

Either, in 30 years, the politicians who defended the manifesto had not found the time to read the Constitution properly—just as they now seem not to have found the time to read the Agreement;

Or they do know it, in which case they are knowingly breaking their manifesto pledges.