Madrid vows to stop Catalan independence declaration
Spain will do "everything within the law" to prevent Catalonia from declaring its independence, Justice Minister Rafael Catala said Monday, the day after the regional government of Catalonia declared its victory in a referendum of prohibited secession.
"If someone plans to declare the independence of a part of the territory of Spain, as it can not do, since it has no power to do so, we would have to do everything possible under the law to prevent it," he said in a statement. interview with Spanish public television. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said Sunday that Catalonia had won the right to separate from Spain after 90 percent of voters voted for independence, defying a violent police repression and fierce Madrid opposition. He said he would now present the results to the region's parliament, which then had the power to adopt a motion for independence. Pro-separatist legislators have a narrow majority of 72 seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament. When asked if the central government would use article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which would allow it to suspend practically the autonomous powers of the northeast region, Catala said: "It is a tool that is there." "We are not here to divide the Spaniards, we are here to serve the general interest, so if we have to use certain rights, we have to use the full force of the law, all the mechanisms that the constitution and the laws grant to the government." measures that worry us and can hurt us, we will. It is important to ensure that Spain has the rule of law, that the laws are complied with, "he said.
"If someone plans to declare the independence of a part of the territory of Spain, as it can not do, since it has no power to do so, we would have to do everything possible under the law to prevent it," he said in a statement. interview with Spanish public television. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said Sunday that Catalonia had won the right to separate from Spain after 90 percent of voters voted for independence, defying a violent police repression and fierce Madrid opposition. He said he would now present the results to the region's parliament, which then had the power to adopt a motion for independence. Pro-separatist legislators have a narrow majority of 72 seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament. When asked if the central government would use article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which would allow it to suspend practically the autonomous powers of the northeast region, Catala said: "It is a tool that is there." "We are not here to divide the Spaniards, we are here to serve the general interest, so if we have to use certain rights, we have to use the full force of the law, all the mechanisms that the constitution and the laws grant to the government." measures that worry us and can hurt us, we will. It is important to ensure that Spain has the rule of law, that the laws are complied with, "he said.
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