As the constitutional crisis continues to rock the Spanish political dungeon, the country’s constitutional court has suspended a session of the Catalan parliament scheduled for Monday in which local leaders were expected to unilaterally declare Catalonia’s independence.
The ruling has spiked a legal challenge by the Catalan Socialist Party, which opposes secession. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said on Wednesday that he favoured mediation to resolve the standoff, but that Spain’s central government had rejected this.
In an interview wit’s the Spanish Prime Minister, Rajoy said the solution to the Catalan crisis was a prompt return to legality and “a statement as soon as possible that there will not be a unilateral declaration of independence, because that will also avoid greater evils”.
Rajoy did not elaborate but ruling party lawmakers say he is considering drastic measures to prevent the wealthy region from breaking away from Spain. These would include the unprecedented step of dissolving the Catalan parliament and triggering regional elections.
Participants in Sunday’s referendum backed independence with 90 percent of the vote, but turnout was only about 43 percent as most Catalans who prefer to remain part of Spain boycotted the ballot, which Madrid had called unconstitutional.
Unfortunately the EU has been passive in the crisis,
It is understood that the Catalonian government is willing to negotiate but the Spanish government has refused to come to the table. Only time will tell if the Spanish government will allow the rule of law to prevail, the world is watching.
