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Catalonia MPs vote for secession plan that seeks independence by 2017 Catalonia MPs vote for secession as Spain looks to block plans in court
(about 3 hours later)
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. The Catalan parliament has voted to formally begin the process of breaking away from Spain, deepening its standoff with the central government in Madrid as the region begins one of the most decisive weeks to date in its push for independence.
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. Separatist MPs used their majority to pass legislation pledging a “disconnection from the Spanish state” in favour of the “beginning of the process toward the creation of an independent Catalan state in the form of a republic”.
Related: The Catalan people have spoken. Will the Spanish government listen? | Artur Mas The vote passed by 72 to 63, backed by MPs from the pro-independence Together for Yes coalition and the smaller, far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP). It aims to pave the way for the region to declare independence as early as 2017.
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. The legislation calls for further laws to facilitate the creation of an independent social security system and tax authority within the next 30 days, and specifies that the regional parliament will no longer be bound to decisions made by institutions of the Spanish state, including the constitutional court.
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. “There is a growing cry for Catalonia to not merely be a country, but to be a state with everything that means,” the Together for Yes politician Raül Romeva told parliament on Monday. “Today, we not only open a new parliament, this marks a before and after.”
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. Reaction from Madrid was swift. Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, said his government was already working towards appealing the legislation in the constitutional court.
“I’ve said it continuously and I reiterate it today – the government will not allow this to continue,” said Rajoy, who is currently campaigning to be re-elected in the general election on 20 December. “Catalonia will not disconnect itself from anywhere, and there will be no fracture.”
The constitutional court is expected to accept the government’s appeal, meaning the Catalan resolution would be suspended while judges hear arguments and reach a decision.
But it remains to be seen how the suspension would effect the Catalan parliament. Pere Aragonès, another Together for Yes politician, pointed to Monday’s legislation to argue that Spanish courts no longer had jurisdiction over the process of breaking away from Spain.
“The content of the resolution will be applied regardless of what the constitutional court says,” he told Agence France-Presse. “We have strength and legitimacy, even if the Spanish state resists.”
The argument could put Catalan leaders in the crosshairs of the courts. This year the central government passed legislation outlining steep sanctions and suspensions for leaders who fail to comply with the orders of the constitutional court, with the aim of quelling defiance.
Related: Basque secessionists follow Catalans in push for independenceRelated: Basque secessionists follow Catalans in push for independence
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. Monday’s legislation, which was passed in the Catalan parliament exactly a year after the region’s symbolic referendum on independence, came hours before the Catalan president, Artur Mas, was scheduled to address the regional parliament and make his case for staying on as leader of the government for a third term.
The Catalan resolution states that the secession process will not be subject to decisions made by Spanish institutions, including the constitutional court. After Together for Yes fell short of a majority in the September regional elections, the party is now relying on the CUP to form a government capable of advancing the separatist movement.
“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. Negotiations on who will lead this government have been continuing since the elections, but little headway has been made so far. CUP has consistently said it will not support Mas as leader of the new government, pointing to austerity measures implemented by his centre-right government and a string of corruption scandals that have plagued his party, Democratic Convergence, in recent years.
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 Catalan parliament has until 9 January to form a government, after which new elections must be called.
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.