CATALAN PARLIAMENT DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN
Declaration unlikely to be given official recognition by Madrid and abroad
BARCELONA
CATALONIA’S Parliament declared independence from Spain yesterday in defiance of the Madrid government, which was preparing to impose direct rule over the region.
Although the declaration was in effect a symbolic gesture as it would not be accepted by Spain or the international community, the moves by both sides took Spain’s worst political crisis in four decades to a new level.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy immediately called for calm and said the rule of law would be restored.
The motion declaring independence was approved with 70 votes in favour, 10 against and two abstentions, with Catalan opposition lawmakers walking out of the 135-seat chamber before the vote in protest.
Parliament said Catalonia constituted an independent, sovereign and social democratic state. It called on other countries and institutions to recognise it.
It said it wanted to open talks with Madrid to collaborate on setting up the new republic.
“It is not going to be easy. It is not going to be free. It is not going to change in a day. But, there is no alternative to a process towards the Catalan Republic,” lawmaker Marta Rovira of the Junts pel Si pro-independence alliance said in a debate leading to the vote.
After the debate, lawmakers from members of three main national parties — the People’s Party, the Socialists and Ciudadanos — walked out.
Members of the pro-independence parties and the far-left Podemos then voted 70-10 in favour in a secret ballot aimed at hindering any attempt by the central government to lay criminal charges on them.
Spanish shares and bonds were sold off when the result of the vote was announced.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont left the chamber to shouts of “President!”.
Outside Parliament, tens of thousands of independence supporters filled streets, shouting “Liberty” in Catalan and singing traditional Catalan songs.
In Madrid, the upper house of Spain’s Parliament, the Senate, was due to approve Article 155, the law that allowed the central government to take over the autonomous region.
“Exceptional measures should only be adopted when no other remedy is possible,” Rajoy said in an address to the Senate.
“In my opinion there is no alternative. The only thing that can be done and should be done is to accept and comply with the law.”
The Catalan leadership was ignoring the law and making a mockery of democracy, he said.
“We are facing a challenge unprecedented in our recent history,” said Rajoy, who had staked out an uncompromising position against Catalonia’s campaign to break away from Spain.
After the Senate vote, Rajoy was expected to convene his cabinet to adopt the first measures to govern Catalonia directly.
This could include sacking the Barcelona government and assuming direct supervision of Catalan police forces.
But how direct rule would work on the ground, including the reaction of civil servants and the police, was uncertain.
Some independence supporters promised to mount a campaign of civil disobedience, which could lead to direct confrontation with security forces.
The crisis developed after an independence referendum on Oct 1 was declared illegal by Madrid. Reuters