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CATALONIA WILL SPLIT FROM SPAIN ON MONDAY… King’s Authority at Stake… ‘Bigger Threat than Brexit’… MORE Regions in EU Seek Independence…
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Pro-independence parties seek Monday vote on independence
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Crisis weakens euro, Spanish bonds and shares
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Economy minister, Caixabank seek to reassure depositors
4 October, 2017
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Spain’s king says Catalan leaders have divided society (Adds EU
comment, mediation proposal, army moving gear for police)
By
Angus Berwick and Sonya Dowsett
BARCELONA/MADRID,
Oct 4 (Reuters) – Catalonia will move on Monday to declare
independence from Spain following its banned referendum as the
European Union nation nears a rupture that threatens the foundations
of its young democracy.
Mireia
Boya, a Catalan lawmaker from the pro-independence Popular Unity
Candidacy (CUP) party, said on Twitter that a declaration of
independence would follow a parliamentary session on Monday to
evaluate the results of the Oct. 1 vote to break away.
“We
know that there may be disbarments, arrests … But we are prepared,
and in no case will it be stopped,” she said.
Catalan
President Carles Puigdemont said earlier he would ask the region’s
parliament to declare independence following the poll, which Spain’s
government and constitutional court say was illegal and in which only
a minority of Catalans voted.
Spanish
king’s authority at stake in Catalonia
Madrid
(AFP) – It was a king’s speech that left many Catalans dismayed —
no mention of those hurt in police violence when they tried to vote
in a banned weekend independence referendum, no mention of dialogue.
Instead,
Spain’s King Felipe VI sided squarely with Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy’s government on Tuesday evening as he addressed the nation
over an escalating crisis between Catalan separatist leaders and
Madrid.
And
with his camp clearly chosen, analysts said the head of state paved
the way for Madrid to apply drastic measures to slow down Catalonia’s
independence drive — risking his very monarchy in the process.
Felipe
VI came down hard on Catalan authorities, which organised Sunday’s
referendum on independence even after they had been told by Madrid
they could not go ahead with a vote deemed unconstitutional.
‘Bigger
threat than Brexit’…
Strasbourg
(France) (AFP) – The crisis in Catalonia poses a bigger threat to
the EU than Brexit, a senior MEP warned Wednesday as the European
Parliament prepared to hold an emergency debate on Spain’s worst
political crisis in decades.
Catalonia’s
leader has vowed to declare independence within days, claiming a
mandate from a weekend referendum which was declared illegal by
Madrid and the Spanish courts and marred by violence.
Images
of the police crackdown on the vote drew a vocal reaction from some
MEPs, with Belgium’s Philippe Lamberts, the head of the Green
grouping in parliament, warning the crisis “threatened the spirit
of European integration, even more than Brexit”.
MORE
regions in EU seek independence…
Paris
(AFP) – Catalonia, which has threatened to declare independence
from Spain, is only one of several regions in the European Union
demanding more autonomy or even independence.
Here
is a rundown of some of the others.
– Scotland,
Britain –
An
historic 2014 referendum on leaving the United Kingdom shook the
country to the core and resulted in a narrow 55 percent vote against
a split.
First
Minister Nicola Sturgeon, head of the pro-independence Scottish
National Party, wants a second referendum once the outlines of the
deal for Britain’s exit from the European Union become clear.
Scotland,
home to 5.2 million people, has been semi-autonomous since 1998 with
a devolved parliament that handles matters of education, health,
environment and justice, while diplomacy and defence remain the
domain of London.
After
scores of people were injured in Catalonia during its banned
referendum on independence on Sunday, Sturgeon called on Spain to
“change course” and condemned the police intervention.
Accusing
them of “disloyalty” and being “completely on the margins of
law and democracy”, the king said that state had to “ensure
constitutional order”.
– ‘Declaration
of hostility’ –
Ana
Romero, a journalist specialising in Spain’s royal family, said
that with this position, the 49-year-old sovereign made a risky bet.
“What
will happen at the end of all this will determine the success or
failure of his reign,” she told AFP.
If,
despite Madrid’s best efforts, Catalonia becomes independent —
still a very hypothetical step — this could lead to a domino effect
in Spain with other regions demanding to split from the country.
Police
chief faces sedition investigation…
Spain’s
National Court, meanwhile, said it will quiz two senior officers of
Catalonia’s regional police force and the leaders of two
pro-independence civic groups who have been placed under
investigation for sedition.
It
said the four will be questioned Friday about their roles in
demonstrations Sept. 20-21 in Barcelona, when Spanish police arrested
several Catalan government officials and raided offices in a
crackdown on preparations for the referendum. Spanish authorities say
the demonstrations hindered the police operation.
The
four include regional police chief Josep Lluis Trapero and Jordi
Sanchez, the head of the Catalan National Assembly that has been the
main civic group behind the independence movement.
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