Region to declare independence
CATALONIA will declare unilateral independence from Spain on Monday, separatist leaders said yesterday, in open defiance of Madrid and in the absence of any heavyweight support from Europe.
Leaders of Catalonia’s pro-independence parties met yesterday to schedule a special session in the region’s parliament for the start of next week.
The only item on the agenda is a speech by Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s president, “to evaluate the results and effects” of last Sunday’s referendum, deemed illegal by Spain’s courts.
Mireia Boya, a spokesman for the left-wing CUP party, part of the majority in the assembly, said that Monday’s session would see “a proclamation of independence and the Catalan republic”. “Even though there are arrests and court suspensions, that won’t stop the session going ahead,” she said.
Spain’s Ibex 35 stock market index plummeted by 2.85pc yesterday in its worst session since the day after the Brexit referendum result.
The leaders of the major pro-EU European Parliament groups warned the Catalan government against declaring independence, saying that it would cause “a fatal fracture” and cost Catalonia its EU membership. During a debate in Strasbourg, called after shocking scenes of police brutality during Sunday’s ballot, the presidents of the centre-right European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, and the ALDE Liberal group, three of the four largest political groups, yesterday insisted that Catalonia remain part of Spain.
Guy Verhofstadt, the parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator and president of ALDE, which has both Catalan and Spanish MEPs, accused the Catalan government of “manipulation and deception” and said the referendum lacked democratic legitimacy.
Belgium’s Philippe Lamberts, the co-head of the influential European Greens in parliament, warned the crisis “threatened the spirit of European integration, even more than Brexit”.
The European Commission has encouraged Spain and Catalonia to engage in dialogue, but has not offered to mediate.
In an interview with the BBC published yesterday, Mr Puigdemont said he expected the declaration of independence to be made early next week.
Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s conservative prime minister, has yet to announce what strategy his government will adopt if such a declaration takes place amid speculation that the government is preparing to trigger a never-before used article in Spain’s constitution which would grant Madrid powers to override Catalonia’s authorities.
Yesterday, the chief of Catalonia’s police force was summoned by a judge under the accusation of sedition.
Major Josep Lluis Trapero could face 15 years in prison after his Mossos d’Esquadra force allegedly failed to offer protection to Spanish police investigators raiding a Catalan government building.
Catalonia was accused of ‘manipulation and deception’