Catalan Separatist MPs to Defy Madrid?
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Catalans have a legitimate right to self-determination. Spanish law otherwise can’t deny them - only ruthless state power, if ordered, perhaps coming ahead.
On Thursday, Catalan parliamentarians will hold a plenary session, a day before Spanish senators vote to strip the region of autonomy.
They’ll discuss PM Rajoy’s response to their declaration of independence, temporarily suspended, urging dialogue Madrid rejected.
They’ll decide whether to defy his imposition of regime rule over the region, undermining its autonomy.
Catalan President Puigdemont called Rajoy’s tyrannical intention “the worst attack on the institutions and the people of Catalonia since the decrees of the military dictator Francisco Franco.”
By letter, he told Rajoy if Spain’s parliament “block(s) dialogue and continu(es) repression, (Catalan MPs) may proceed to vote on the formal declaration of independence.”
If legitimate new Catalan elections were held today, pro-independence parties would win a clear majority, according to recent polls, retaining at least the number of seats they now hold, maybe more given how ruthlessly Madrid challenged referendum day voting, along with Rajoy ordering regime rule over the region.
Catalan Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Romeva asked “(h)ow can the European Union live with that situation if it appears?”
“How can they be credible if they allow this to happen?” Brussels will lose face if it doesn’t support the legitimate rights of Catalans, clearly asserted democratically.
“(W)hat I can tell you is that the people and the institutions in Catalonia would not let this…happen,” Romeva stressed, adding:
“It’s not that we will refuse (orders). It is not a personal decision. It is a seven million-person decision” - the overwhelming will of the people.
“And from that perspective, I have no doubt that all civil servants in Catalonia will keep following the instructions provided by the elected and legitimate institutions that we have right now in place.”
European Commission chief spokesperson Margaritis Schinas concurred with Madrid fascists, saying “we respect the constitutional and legal arrangement of Spain” - even if it breaches international law, he failed to explain.
Over the weekend, pro-independence activists called for “mass civil disobedience” against Spain. The CUP party called Rajoy’s action “aggression against the civil individual and collective rights of the Catalan people.”
Spain’s constitutional crisis may deepen in the coming days. Most Catalans reject Madrid direct rule. Things could get ugly ahead.
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