Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria announced Wednesday that the country’s central government believes the vote would be unconstitutional, saying, “our legislation has many mechanisms to stop any illegality.”
But despite strong opposition from Madrid, two of Barcelona’s heavyweight political parties have signed an agreement calling for the self-determination vote anyway in 2014.
The new union paves the way for Artur Mas, of the conservative Convergence and Union party, to be sworn in for a new term as Catalonia’s leader despite his fall from grace after a call to vote two years ahead of schedule backfired. Now, he is set to push for the region’s independence in collaboration with Oriol Junqueras, of the Republican Left of Catalonia.
“We aim to put the future of Catalonia in the hands of the citizens of Catalonia, and to do that we want to consult them democratically,” said Junqueras.
A similar move was made by Spain’s Basque region in 2005, and was rejected by Madrid. Catalonia, unlike the Basque region, is Spain’s most economic powerful region – but having requested €5 billion ($6.6 billion) in bailout funds from the central government, it is also the most indebted due to the economic crisis strangling the nation.
