King warns Catalans over plan to break away

KING FELIPE of Spain warned Catalonia yesterday to respect the law as separatists threatened to defy Madrid and unilaterally declare independence if they won elections in the autumn.

Artur Mas, the nationalist leader of the wealthy northwestern area, has called regional elections on September 27, which he hopes will be a de facto referendum on splitting from Spain.

Mas has said if the separatist movement Together for Yes win an absolute majority – 78 out of 135 seats – in the regional parliament, they will prepare to declare independence within 18 months – in direct contravention of the law, which allows for a region to become independent only after a referendum involving all Spaniards.

Felipe gave a thinly veiled warning to Mas in Barcelona yesterday.

‘‘Abiding by the law is the source of legitimacy and the essential requirement for a peaceful and free democratic coexistence.’’

His comments came a day after the king said he believed that Mas’s drive for independence was irreversible, according to Miguel Angel Revilla, the regional leader of Cantabria.

The push for independence has put Catalonia on a collision course with Spain’s centre-right government, which has threatened direct rule from Madrid if Mas declares a breakaway state.

Article 155 of the constitution allows the central government to suspend the powers of regional authorities ‘‘if they act against the general interest of Spain’’.

Support for separatism in Catalonia, which accounts for 20 per cent of Spain’s gross domestic product, has risen during a deep economic crisis, as nationalists have argued that Catalonia should not subsidise other regions.

Mas, the leader of the conservative Convergence and Democracy party, has formed an unlikely alliance with the Republican Left party to back independence from Spain.