Spain vows to curb Catalonia by imposing direct rule on region
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to return Catalonia to the rule of law as his government prepares to announce unprecedented measures to head off the independence crisis by imposing direct rule from Madrid.
Speaking at the EU summit in Brussels yesterday, after confirming that article 155 of the Spanish constitution would be invoked to begin the process of suspending key elements of Catalonia’s self-rule, Rajoy said his government had two clear aims.
“To return to the observance of the law — because you can’t have a part of the country where the law is not obeyed — and to bring about a return to institutional normality.”
Rajoy said his response had the backing of the Spanish Socialist Party and the centrist Ciudadanos, or Citizens, Party.
The Spanish Cabinet was to hold an emergency meeting overnight to decide the precise nature of its intervention in Catalonia, which, as an autonomous region, controls its own education, healthcare and policing.
Its proposals will be put before the Spanish senate next week.
Rajoy warned the Catalan independence issue has reached “a critical point” but his People’s Party said there is still time for Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to end Spain’s worst political crisis in four decades.