Catalonia’s “illegal” rebellion could cause a crisis in Spain

Half a million people led by Spain’s King Felipe marched through the streets of Barcelona last week, ostensibly to show a united response to last month’s terrorist attack. But far from being a homage to the victims, it proved to be yet another rowdy rally for Catalan independence, said Salvador Sostres in ABC (Madrid). Placards condemning Isis were hardly to be seen, only Catalan flags and anti-spain slogans. The boos and hisses that broke out every time Felipe’s image flashed up on the roadside screens were hard to bear. What a contrast to the serious demonstrations that followed the terror outrages in Paris and London. This must go down as one of the most embarrassing displays of “selfsatisfied provincialism” ever seen in postwar Europe.

There was a show of unity between Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy and Catalonia’s regional president, Carles Puigdemont, said Diego Torres in Politico (Brussels). But it was illusory. The first Catalan president to refuse to take the oath of loyalty to the Spanish constitution and the monarch, Puigdemont heads the alliance of separatist parties that runs Catalonia. And this alliance has now shattered the brief truce between Madrid and Barcelona that held after the terrorist attacks, by publishing a draft bill that spells out how Catalonia will assert its independence should a majority vote “yes” in an independence referendum it has scheduled for 1 October. Holding such a referendum without Madrid’s consent is illegal under the Spanish constitution. With a regional government now in “open rebellion”, Spain could be plunged into a constitutional crisis within weeks.

Catalans should be very afraid, said El País (Madrid). The bill seems to have been inspired by Russia’s annexation of Crimea. It allows the politicians to appoint judges of their liking, effectively ending the rule of law. Election officials are to be appointed by the ruling parties. Spanish state assets will be confiscated. Is this really the kind of society Catalans want to live in? The bill is just as shocking for what it leaves out, said Mercedes Fuertes in El Mundo (Madrid). Brussels insists an independent Catalonia will be outside the EU, yet the bill is almost totally silent about economic arrangements: how on earth, economists wonder, will Catalonia pay for public sector workers and pensions, currently the responsibility of Madrid? Assertions of sovereignty always involve tough negotiations, as the British are finding. But at least Brexit is legal. What the Catalans are trying to pass off as ordinary legislation is in fact “an illegal coup” – and there’s little time left to stop it.