The resolution passed on Monday called on the Catalan regional assembly to aim for independence in 18 months.
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The court was to meet later Wednesday.
“Right now, we’re entering uncharted waters”, said Joseph Wilson, a freelance reporter in Barcelona who’s been covering the Catalan independence movement for the past few years.
“This is a warning to [Catalan leaders] that if they fail to comply with the suspension, they may commit disobedience”, the 11-judge panel said, in its ruling. Catalonia is Spain’s largest regional economy, and the instability caused by any unilateral move toward independence would be awful for investment. I will not allow it, ” Rajoy declared.
“Democracy is being undermined; everything is being undermined”, he said. They want more freedom as they are having right now. There is a caretaking government and an acting Prime Minister. In 2014, Catalonia’s regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 199 billion euros – around 19 percent of Spain’s total GDP figure.
Thomson ReutersAn estelada flag (Catalan separatist flag) flies on a pole in El Masnou, near BarcelonaMADRID (Reuters) – Catalonia’s regional government on Monday voted in favor of a resolution to split from Spain, launching a so-called roadmap towards independence which the central government in Madrid has vowed to block.
Artur Mas’ candidacy was rejected by 73-62 in the Catalan parliament, with only his “Together for Yes” alliance supporting him.
However, this attempt has fallen foul of the Spanish Constitutional Court which on Wednesday evening unanimously made a decision to suspend the independence resolution, creating a legal headache for the separatist parties.
All 72 pro-independence lawmakers – the majority in the regional parliament – voted for a resolution to secede from the rest of the country, drawing huge applause that drowned out opposition MPs holding Spanish flags.
Rajoy again met with Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday in a show of political unity, and to coordinate their steps and messages in dealing with the secessionist challenge.
The rise in tensions between Madrid and Catalonia comes just weeks before Spaniards vote in the general election on 20 December. Ahead of the verdict, he had called the Catalan text a “blatant disregard for the state’s institutions”.
But because the judicial system has to be somehow independent, they are refusing a few points that include the 21 members of the independence row to be kicked away from their positions.
The highly-industrialised and heavily-populated region in the northeast of Spain makes up about a fifth of the national economic output.
With its own language and distinctive culture, Catalonia was once a big textile producer and is now trying to reinvent itself as a technology hub. Supporters hope to form a separate nation by mid-2017.
The appeal filed by Rajoy’s conservative People’s party government retaliates with a request aimed at quelling defiance among Catalan leaders.
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State lawyers lodged the appeal before the Constitutional Court, with the government calling on the tribunal to suspend the Catalan parliament’s decision while it is being studied. The court also warned Catalan officials they would be criminally responsible if they did not adhere to the process.
