MADRID: Separatist parties in Spain’s Catalonia region set November 9 next year as the date for a proposed independence referendum and agreed the wording, but the Spanish government immediately poured cold water on the plan.
Catalan regional government head Artur Mas said the vote, which the Spanish government says would be unconstitutional, would ask two questions: “Do you want Catalonia to be a state?” and “Do you want that state to be independent?”
Calls for independence in Catalonia, a wealthy industrial region of northeastern Spain which accounts for a fifth of the country’s economic output, have grown as a prolonged Spanish recession and cuts in public spending have hit the area, creating a headache for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Mas argued that there was a way for the vote to be held legally, but within minutes of his statement, Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said the vote could not take place because Spain’s constitution would not allow it.
Rajoy later reiterated that he saw no elbow room on Madrid’s stance against the referendum.
“As prime minister I have sworn to uphold the constitution and the law and, because of this, I guarantee that this referendum will not happen,” Rajoy said during a joint news conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
“Any discussion or debate on this is out of the question.”
Reuters
