Spain to unveil measures to fight Catalan separatists

Government may take control of region amid crisis.

Spain’s BARCELONA, SPAIN — prime minister says his government will unveil specific measures today to halt Catalonia’s independence bid but refused to confirm if that included plans to hold a regional election in January.

The opposition Socialists are supporting the conserva- tive government’s effort to rein in the country’s deep- est political crisis in decades. The Socialists’ main nego- tiator, Carmen Calvo, said earlier Friday that an early election in the prosperous northeastern region of Cata- lonia had been agreed upon as part of the deal.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, commenting on the unprecedented constitu- tional step his government is taking to assume control of Catalonia, said on the side- lines of a European Union summit in Brussels that “the goal is double: the return to legality and the recovery of institutional normalcy.”

The move is likely to further inflame tensions between Spain and Catalonia’s pro-independence activists. Catalonia’s govern- ment says it has the man- date to secede from Spain after it held a disputed referendum on Oct. 1. It certainly does not want a new regional election.

The central government will hold a special Cabinet session today to begin activating Article 155 of Spain’s 1978 Constitution, which lets central authorities take over all or some of the powers of any of the country’s 17 autonomous regions.

The measure, which has never been used since democracy was restored after Gen. Francisco Fran- co’s dictatorship, needs to be approved by the Senate. Rajoy’s conservative Pop- ular Party has an absolute majority in the Senate, so it should pass easily as early as Oct. 27.

Spain’s government has also agreed on the move with the center-right, pro-business Citizens party, Rajoy told reporters in Brussels.

King Felipe VI, meanwhile, threw his weight behind efforts to block Catalan independence, saying at a public event Friday night that Catalonia “is and will be an essential part” of Spain.

“Spain will deal with this unacceptable attempt at secession by using the Constitution,” Felipe said in a speech in Oviedo, in northern Spain’s Asturias region.

Although not officially on the agenda of a European Union summit Friday, the Catalan crisis was the main topic in Brussels corridors. Rajoy has insisted the political deadlock is a domestic Spanish affair but acknowledged that it was a cause of concern for his fellow EU leaders.

He accused the Catalan separatist authorities of acting against the rule of law and democracy and said: “This is something that goes directly against the basic principles of the European Union.”