For the past three weeks since 2.24 million Catalonians voted 90 per cent in favour of independence for the region, Spain has been plunged into its worst political crisis since the end of the regime of General Francisco Franco more than four decades ago. While the October 1 referendum was declared illegal by the Madrid government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s Constitutional Court and the Catalan High Court before it took place, separatist leader Carles Puigdemont says the mandate is enough to declare the region of 7.5 million and the home to the nation’s second-largest city independent from Spain.
Puigdemont has been calling for talks with Rajoy’s government to break the deadlock but with there being no means under the current Spanish constitution for any of the nation’s 17 regions to separate from the nation, there seems little room for manoeuvre. Indeed, the notion of an independent Catalonia has fallen on deaf ears in the European Union and Rajoy received a vote of support and the backing for a single, strong and unified Spain from EU leaders meeting in Brussels before the weekend.
On returning to Madrid, Rajoy and his Cabinet has decided that they will use the powers granted to them under the constitution, namely invoking Article 155 and removing the powers of the Catalan regional assembly next weekend, pending almost-certain approval from the national senate next Friday. Madrid will also force the restive region to hold fresh elections within six months to try and relieve the growing pressure there. Pro-Spain voters largely ignored or boycotted the illegal October 1 referendum and opinion polls suggest that support for both sides is evenly split.
With two top separatist agitators already jailed by Spanish authorities and the chief of the regional police force facing possible sedition charges for allegedly not doing enough to prevent the referendum from taking place, both rhetoric and tensions are ramped up in Catalonia. The decision too from the Rajoy government to impose Article 155 has also meant that anti-Madrid sentiment is strong.
Rajoy and the Madrid government had no other alternative but to prevent the chaos that would inevitably follow any declaration of independence by Catalonia. From the king down, Rajoy has a responsibility to protect the entire Spanish state, its constitution, its integrity, its institutions and its economy.
Right now, urgent talks are needed between Madrid and Catalonia, but the notion of a separatist state carved out of Spain is not a reality that can come about anytime soon.
