English: I was in Barcelona on 1 October when the independence referendum was held. It was a horrific and inspiring experience by equal measure. I never thought I would see in a western democracy a position where - . I was in a polling station, and people, ordinary citizens, were forming human chains in order to prevent the Policia Nacional and the Guardia Civil from breaking into that polling station and breaking up the democratic process. At the same time, it was incredibly, incredibly impressive to see the quiet dignity of the Catalan people, waiting for hours from the early hours of the morning, actually, to vote. Many of them - the first voters in almost every polling station were the elderly, some of them in wheelchairs, and voting was delayed for hours because of the repressive measures of the Spanish state. The tears in their eyes, and in the eyes of their families and the eyes of the citizens around them, and many of them saying they'd been waiting there in the cold for hours and, 'We have waited - we have waited our entire lives for this moment' - nobody could, I think, fail to be inspired by that commitment, a commitment born out of a commitment to democracy but carried out in a spirit of non-violence as well. That's why this message of solidarity is so important from this institution. We do it because, as a small nation, we should never allow the illegal usurpation of power by a central state against the duly elected Parliament of a small nation. We cannot stand idly by when citizens are brutally repressed in the way that happened in that referendum and we cannot see a position where the elected members of a democratic government are actually imprisoned simply because the constitutional policy that they represent is at odds with that of the central state. Of course, this tradition of solidarity between this nation and the Catalan nation has deep roots. There were Welsh members of the International Brigade that lost their lives at the Battle of Gandesa. Of course, that struggle, the struggle during the period of the Spanish civil war, saw the close interconnection between the universal fight for democracy and for civil and political rights and the desire for decentralisation and the desire for self-determination by the Catalan people. There are dark and clear continuities in Catalan and Spanish history. The declaration of independence, of course, happened on 27 October - effectively, Catalonia was independent for four days until that was quashed by the Spanish constitutional court. On 6 October in 1934, an earlier President of the Generalitat declared a Catalan state that lasted for 10 hours, of course. He was subsequently forced into exile - an exact replica of what happened to Puigdemont. In fact, Lluís Companys, of course - eventually, the Generalitat was resurrected later during the course of the Spanish civil war - he ultimately was exiled again, brought back to Spain and was executed. He remains the only incumbent democratically elected head of a government in Europe that has been executed. Puigdemont is the only duly elected, democratically elected, leader of a national government that has faced a European arrest warrant. Since the recreation of the Generalitat in 1932, no less than seven - seven out of nine - of the Presidents of the Generalitat have either been imprisoned or exiled by the Spanish state. That is the sad fact of the continuity that the Catalan people have had to face throughout the course of their history to demand, actually, what is a modest and universal demand, which is the dignity that can only come with the right to exercise your own self-determination as a people and as a nation, which, of course, is written into the UN Charter. It is incumbent upon us, I think, to send this message of solidarity to the Catalan people, as members of a small nation representing a Parliament in a small nation, but also as Europeans and as European citizens. I think I can only echo and pay tribute to the words of Companys himself, who said this: 'We will suffer again, we will fight again, and we will win again.' I felt it on the streets there, moving from polling station to polling station - the indomitable spirit of the Catalan people, who for generations have been struggling for this basic human demand, which is the right of nations everywhere to self-determination, and I hope that this National Assembly, in sending its message of solidarity, will support that universal right for all peoples and all nations.
Welsh: Roeddwn yn Barcelona ar 1 Hydref pan gynhaliwyd y refferendwm ar annibyniaeth. Roedd yn brofiad erchyll ac ysbrydoledig ar yr un pryd. Ni feddyliais y byddwn yn gweld sefyllfa mewn democratiaeth orllewinol lle - . Roeddwn mewn gorsaf bleidleisio, ac roedd pobl, dinasyddion cyffredin, yn ffurfio cadwyni dynol er mwyn atal y Policia Nacional a'r Guardia Civil rhag torri i mewn i'r orsaf bleidleisio honno a chwalu'r broses ddemocrataidd. Ar yr un pryd, roedd yn hynod o drawiadol gweld urddas tawel pobl Catalonia, yn aros am oriau, ers oriau mân y bore mewn gwirionedd, i bleidleisio. Roedd llawer ohonynt - y pleidleiswyr cyntaf ymron pob gorsaf bleidleisio oedd yr henoed, gyda rhai ohonynt mewn cadeiriau olwyn, a chafodd y pleidleisio ei ohirio am oriau oherwydd mesurau gormesol gwladwriaeth Sbaen. Y dagrau yn eu llygaid, ac yn llygaid eu teuluoedd a llygaid dinasyddion o'u cwmpas, a llawer ohonynt yn dweud eu bod wedi bod yn aros yno yn yr oerfel ers oriau a, 'Rydym wedi aros - rydym wedi aros ar hyd ein hoes gyfan am y foment hon' - nid wyf yn credu y gallai neb fethu cael eu hysbrydoli gan yr ymroddiad hwnnw, ymroddiad a aned o ymrwymiad i ddemocratiaeth ond wedi'i gyflawni mewn ysbryd di-drais yn ogystal. Dyna pam y mae'r neges hon o undod mor bwysig gan y sefydliad hwn. Rydym yn ei wneud oherwydd, fel gwlad fach, ni ddylem byth ganiatáu i bŵer gael ei feddiannu'n anghyfreithlon gan wladwriaeth ganolog yn erbyn Senedd cenedl fach a etholwyd yn briodol. Ni allwn sefyll a gwneud dim pan fydd dinasyddion yn cael eu gormesu'n greulon yn y modd y digwyddodd yn y refferendwm hwnnw ac ni allwn weld sefyllfa lle y caiff aelodau etholedig llywodraeth ddemocrataidd eu carcharu yn syml oherwydd bod y polisi cyfansoddiadol y maent yn ei gynrychioli yn groes i un y wladwriaeth ganolog. Wrth gwrs, mae gwreiddiau dwfn i'r traddodiad hwn o undod rhwng y genedl hon a'r genedl Gatalanaidd. Roedd aelodau o Gymru yn y Frigâd Ryngwladol a gollodd eu bywydau ym Mrwydr Gandesa. Wrth gwrs, gwelodd y frwydr honno, brwydr yn ystod rhyfel cartref Sbaen, y cysylltiad agos sydd rhwng y frwydr gyffredinol am ddemocratiaeth a hawliau sifil a gwleidyddol a'r awydd i ddatganoli a'r awydd am hunanbenderfyniad ymhlith pobl Catalonia. Mae yna elfennau tywyll ac amlwg sy'n parhau yn hanes Catalonia a Sbaen. Digwyddodd y datganiad o annibyniaeth, wrth gwrs, ar Hydref 27 - i bob pwrpas, roedd Catalonia'n annibynnol am bedwar diwrnod hyd nes y diddymwyd hynny gan lys cyfansoddiadol Sbaen. Ar 6 Hydref yn 1934, datganodd Arlywydd cynharach y Generalitat wladwriaeth Gatalanaidd a barhaodd am 10 awr, wrth gwrs. Yn dilyn hynny, cafodd ei orfodi i droi'n alltud - yn union yr fath ag a ddigwyddodd i Puigdemont. Yn wir, cafodd Lluís Companys, wrth gwrs - cafodd y Generalitat ei adfer yn ddiweddarach yn ystod rhyfel cartref Sbaen - yn y pen draw cafodd ei alltudio eto, ei ddwyn yn ôl i Sbaen a'i ddienyddio. Puigdemont yw'r unig arweinydd llywodraeth genedlaethol a etholwyd yn ddemocrataidd o hyd sydd wedi wynebu warant arestio Ewropeaidd. Ers ail-greu'r Generalitat yn 1932, cafodd cymaint â saith - saith allan o naw - o Arlywyddion y Generalitat naill ai eu carcharu neu eu halltudio gan wladwriaeth Sbaen. Dyna'r ffaith drist am y parhad y mae pobl Catalonia wedi gorfod ei wynebu drwy gydol eu hanes er mwyn galw, mewn gwirionedd, am rywbeth sy'n gymedrol a chyffredinol, sef yr urddas na all ond fodoli gyda'r hawl i benderfynu drosoch eich hun fel pobl ac fel cenedl, sydd, wrth gwrs, yn rhan o Siarter y Cenhedloedd Unedig. Rwy'n credu ei bod hi'n ddyletswydd arnom i anfon neges o undod at bobl Catalonia, fel aelodau o genedl fach sy'n cynrychioli Senedd mewn cenedl fach, ond hefyd fel Ewropeaid ac fel dinasyddion Ewropeaidd. Rwy'n credu na allaf ond adleisio a rhoi teyrnged i eiriau Companys ei hun, a ddywedodd: Fe ddioddefwn eto, fe ymladdwn eto, ac fe enillwn eto. Teimlais hynny ar y strydoedd, wrth symud o orsaf i orsaf bleidleisio - ysbryd anorchfygol pobl Catalonia, sydd ers cenedlaethau wedi bod yn brwydro dros yr alwad ddynol sylfaenol hon, sef hawl cenhedloedd ym mhobman i benderfynu drostynt eu hunain, ac rwy'n gobeithio y bydd y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol hwn, drwy anfon ei neges o undod, yn cefnogi'r hawl cyffredinol hwnnw i'r holl bobloedd a'r holl genhedloedd.