Ares
9th November 2015, 07:51 AM
Resolution passes by 72 votes to 63 that calls for legislation to create a separate social security system and treasury from Spain
Catalonia’s pro-independence regional parliament has approved a plan to set up a roadmap for independence from Spain by 2017, in defiance of the central government.
Catalan pro-independence parties – which won a majority in the regional assembly for the first time in September elections – voted in favour of a resolution calling on the assembly to start working on legislation within 30 days to create a separate social security system and treasury, with a view to securing complete independence as early as 2017.
The Catalan people have spoken. Will the Spanish government listen?
Artur Mas
Read more
The Together for Yes coalition of the Catalan president, Artur Mas, and the smaller far-left separatist CUP party together hold 72 of the assembly’s 135 seats. The motion passed by 72 votes to 63.
Spain’s conservative central government had vowed to ask the constitutional court to declare the resolution void if it was passed. If the court accepts the government’s appeal, as is expected, the Catalan resolution would be suspended until judges hear arguments and make their decision.
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, who is preparing for a general election on 20 December, has the backing of the main opposition Socialists and the new centre-right party Ciudadanos.
Of Spain’s main parties at the national level, only the far-left Podemos has resisted Rajoy’s effort to forge a united front on the issue. While Podemos wants Catalonia to stay within Spain, it has also said it would support a referendum on the matter.
The Catalan resolution states that the secession process will not be subject to decisions made by Spanish institutions, including the constitutional court.
“The content of the resolution will be applied regardless of what the constitutional court says. We have strength and legitimacy, even if the Spanish states resists,” said Pere Aragones, an assembly member with Together for Yes.
In September Rajoy’s government boosted the powers of the constitutional court to allow it to quickly suspend leaders who disobey its orders, in a move aimed directly at Catalonia.
The government has also raised the possibility of invoking article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which allows Madrid to supersede the authority of a regional government that is acting outside the law or to cut off its funding.
There have long been demands for greater autonomy in Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people with its own language that accounts for a fifth of Spain’s economic output. These calls have intensified in recent years, at a time of economic crisis in Spain.
A decision by Spain’s constitutional court in 2010 to water down a 2006 statute giving the region more powers has added to the growing pressure for secession.
Catalonia tried to hold an official referendum on independence in 2014, but judges ruled it was against the constitution, agreeing with the central government’s argument that all Spanish people have the right to decide on matters of sovereignty.
However, in November 2014 Catalonia defied Madrid and pressed ahead with the referendum, although it was purely symbolic. Turnout was just 37%, of which more than 80% voted in favour of independence.
The CUP assembly member Albert Botran said: “A referendum would be the ideal tool but the Spanish government blocked it. We have no other option but unilateral action.”
Although Catalan separatist parties won a majority of seats in the elections in September, they failed win a majority of all votes cast – a fact emphasised by their opponents.
“Everything is unconstitutional, illegal and undemocratic because they lie when they say the majority of Catalans back a decoupling,” said Albert Rivera, the national leader of Ciudadanos, the main opposition party in Catalonia.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/09/catalonia-mps-to-vote-on-secession-plan-in-showdown-with-spains-government
Catalonia’s pro-independence regional parliament has approved a plan to set up a roadmap for independence from Spain by 2017, in defiance of the central government.
Catalan pro-independence parties – which won a majority in the regional assembly for the first time in September elections – voted in favour of a resolution calling on the assembly to start working on legislation within 30 days to create a separate social security system and treasury, with a view to securing complete independence as early as 2017.
The Catalan people have spoken. Will the Spanish government listen?
Artur Mas
Read more
The Together for Yes coalition of the Catalan president, Artur Mas, and the smaller far-left separatist CUP party together hold 72 of the assembly’s 135 seats. The motion passed by 72 votes to 63.
Spain’s conservative central government had vowed to ask the constitutional court to declare the resolution void if it was passed. If the court accepts the government’s appeal, as is expected, the Catalan resolution would be suspended until judges hear arguments and make their decision.
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, who is preparing for a general election on 20 December, has the backing of the main opposition Socialists and the new centre-right party Ciudadanos.
Of Spain’s main parties at the national level, only the far-left Podemos has resisted Rajoy’s effort to forge a united front on the issue. While Podemos wants Catalonia to stay within Spain, it has also said it would support a referendum on the matter.
The Catalan resolution states that the secession process will not be subject to decisions made by Spanish institutions, including the constitutional court.
“The content of the resolution will be applied regardless of what the constitutional court says. We have strength and legitimacy, even if the Spanish states resists,” said Pere Aragones, an assembly member with Together for Yes.
In September Rajoy’s government boosted the powers of the constitutional court to allow it to quickly suspend leaders who disobey its orders, in a move aimed directly at Catalonia.
The government has also raised the possibility of invoking article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which allows Madrid to supersede the authority of a regional government that is acting outside the law or to cut off its funding.
There have long been demands for greater autonomy in Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people with its own language that accounts for a fifth of Spain’s economic output. These calls have intensified in recent years, at a time of economic crisis in Spain.
A decision by Spain’s constitutional court in 2010 to water down a 2006 statute giving the region more powers has added to the growing pressure for secession.
Catalonia tried to hold an official referendum on independence in 2014, but judges ruled it was against the constitution, agreeing with the central government’s argument that all Spanish people have the right to decide on matters of sovereignty.
However, in November 2014 Catalonia defied Madrid and pressed ahead with the referendum, although it was purely symbolic. Turnout was just 37%, of which more than 80% voted in favour of independence.
The CUP assembly member Albert Botran said: “A referendum would be the ideal tool but the Spanish government blocked it. We have no other option but unilateral action.”
Although Catalan separatist parties won a majority of seats in the elections in September, they failed win a majority of all votes cast – a fact emphasised by their opponents.
“Everything is unconstitutional, illegal and undemocratic because they lie when they say the majority of Catalans back a decoupling,” said Albert Rivera, the national leader of Ciudadanos, the main opposition party in Catalonia.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/09/catalonia-mps-to-vote-on-secession-plan-in-showdown-with-spains-government