Spanish PM accuses Catalan separatists of ‘blackmail’
BARCELONA: Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has accused Catalonia’s separatist government of blackmail after a newspaper reported it was planning to declare independence unless Madrid allows the wealthy region to hold a referendum on secession.
“The threats and blackmail which have been put on the table are intolerable,” Rajoy told a hastily convened press conference.
What Catalan leaders “intend to achieve is the complete rupture of what Spain is today,” he added.
Rajoy was reacting to a report in El Pais which said Catalonia’s regional government was prepared to immediately declare independence for their northeastern region unless Spain’s central government lets it hold a binding independence referendum.
The Catalan government has already drafted a transitional bill on the basic structure and functioning of an independent Catalan state, the newspaper said citing a copy of the blueprint.
The bill handles questions such as who would retain citizenship as well as provisions for taking over assets currently owned by the central government, accord- ing to the report.
The Catalan government denied the report, saying in a statement that its priority remains to reach an agreement with the central government to hold an independence referendum.
A Catalan government source said that the document cited by El Pais was a “very preliminary draft written several months ago which is nothing like the text that exists today.”