Catalonia set for clash with Madrid over independence vote

BARCELONA: Catalonia is expected to pass a law yesterday laying the groundwork for an independence referendum on Oct 1 which is fiercely opposed by Madrid, setting a course for Spain’s deepest political crisis in decades.

The looming showdown comes three weeks after the jihadist attacks in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and a nearby seaside resort that killed 16 people and wounded more than 120 others.

Catalan television has since Monday night been running a 10- second ad featuring a railway track with two divergent paths and one message: “You are going to have the capacity to decide, will you give it up?”

It aims to encourage Catalans to vote in the contested referendum, which will ask if they want “Catalonia to be an independent country in the form of a republic”.

The plebiscite will be officially called yesterday, according to a source close to the Catalan regional government.

Pro- separatist parties, which control the regional assembly in the wealthy northeastern region, are expected to pass the bill, ignoring a ruling by Spain’s Constitutional Court that deemed the vote unconstitutional.

The bill will be tabled during a special session of parliament, with no debate, and then top Catalan government officials will swiftly sign it.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday accused the Catalan government of seeking to “bypass all legal procedures” with the law, which he has vowed to immediately challenge in the courts.

His government has also threatened legal action against top Catalan political figures involved in the plebiscite. — Reuters