Showdown between Spain, Catalonia headed to crunch
BARCELONA, Spain — The standoff between Spain and Catalonia over the wealthy region’s bid to secede went down to the wire Thursday, as the Spanish government prepared to strip away Catalan regional powers after its separatist leader scrapped hopes of early elections that might have ended the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
After weeks of mounting antagonism, Catalan officials had initially indicated regional President Carles Puigdemont was preparing to announce a snap election for December — a vote that had been the Spanish government’s idea as a way of ending the deadlock.
But as news of Mr. Puigdemont’s plan spread, angry student demonstrators waving separatist flags and calling him a traitor marched to the gates of the government palace in Barcelona. Even some of Mr. Puigdemont’s political allies called him a coward for not unilaterally declaring independence in theface of Spain’s resistance.
Then, in a hastily called address, Mr. Puigdemont said he had decided not to call a vote because the Spanish government did not provide enough assurance that it would suspend what he termed its “abusive” measures to assume control of Catalonia.
“There is no guarantee that would justify the holding of elections,” he said.
The crunch will come Friday when the Spanish Senate in Madrid gives the go-ahead to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s plan to use Article 155 of the country’s constitution to remove or limit self-rule in Catalonia.
It would be an unprecedented intervention by the central government in the affairsof one of the country’s 17 autonomous regions and would likely fan the flames of Catalanrevolt.
“Theapplication of Article 155 represents an aggression ... without precedent,” Lluis Corominas, spokesman for Mr. Puigdemont’s DemocraticParty of Catalonia, told Catalan lawmakers. “Tomorrow what we will propose is that our answer to Article 155 is going forward with the mandate of the peopleof Catalonia.”
He was referring to the sentiment among the Catalan pro-independence coalition that it has a mandate to secede unilaterally since declaring a landslide victory in a banned independence referendum earlier this month.