Court move deepens Spanish standoff over Catalan secession

Spain’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday halted a push by separatist regional Catalan lawmakers to set a road map toward independence by 2017, acting just hours after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy mounted a legal challenge to the secession bid and accused separatists of plotting to destroy centuries of Spanish unity. The court’s unanimous acceptance to review the Spanish government’s legal case suspended a resolution passed Monday by the Catalonia parliament in Barcelona authorizing it to begin work on a Catalan constitution and to establish tax-collecting and security systems.

This is a warning to (Catalan leaders) that if they fail to comply with the suspension, they may commit disobedience.

Court ruling

The row over Catalonia has escalated dramatically weeks ahead of a national election in December, dominating political campaigning as parties such as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s center-right People’s Party (PP) call for Spanish unity. Strikingly, it has relegated discussion of the economy to a secondary role, even though years in or near recession before 2014 have left one in five Spanish workers unemployed. Parties favoring a split from Spain won a majority of seats in the Catalan parliament in September, although they fell just short of half of the vote. Separatist feeling has been fueled by demands for greater recognition of Catalonia’s cultural identity, dismissed by the central state, and demands for a referendum.

The will of the Catalan people cannot be suspended. We are committed to continue with our democratic mandate.

Oriol Junqueras, leader of one of the Catalan independence parties

Politics Catalan independence