The President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, warned on Thursday that if Catalan authorities went ahead in declaring independence from Spain, “nobody” in the EU would support them.
“I think it would be good for the government of Catalonia not to declare independence, it would be good because nobody is in favour of the independence of Catalonia.
“We are in favour of dialogue, but nobody in Europe could accept the independence of Catalonia.
“If Catalan leaders insist they would be isolated, nobody will help the government of Catalonia on this path,” Tajani told Cope, a conservative Spanish radio station.
Tajani spoke before the expiration of a Spanish government ultimatum for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.
He was asked to set aside independence plans for good, but he responded by threatening to declare secession if Madrid suspended Catalonia’s autonomous powers.
After Puigdemont said he would not back down, the Spanish government announced an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Saturday to do exactly what the Catalan leader had asked them not to.
The government started the activation of Article 155 of the Constitution on the suspension of Catalan self-government.
The Spanish government had said on Thursday it would trigger procedures to suspend the autonomy of Catalonia after the leader of that region failed to respond to an ultimatum to formally set aside independence plans.
In Spain’s four decades of democracy, article 155 of the constitution has never been used.
Its activation will mark an escalation of the most serious political crisis Spain has experienced since a failed coup d’etat in 1981.
“Next Saturday the Council of Ministers meeting extraordinarily will approve the measures to be submitted to the Senate to protect the general interest of the Spanish,” the government said referring to article 155 procedures.
Its provisions will allow Madrid authorities to sack the Catalan government, dissolve the regional parliament and assume control of regional authorities, including the local police, the Mossos d’Esquadra.
Such measures will likely trigger street protests in Catalonia.
However, Article 155 could be applied more gradually, and its activation could take days as it needs to be approved by the upper chamber of parliament.
Earlier, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont threatened his region’s formal declaration of independence “if the government of the (Spanish) state insists on refusing dialogue and continuing with repression,” including through Article 155.
Puigdemont released a letter to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy minutes before a 10 a.m. deadline to desist on secession. It was the second ultimatum in a week for the Catalan leader, who on Monday dodged a first demand to clarify his actions.
The Catalan crisis centres on an Oct. 1 referendum on independence that was banned by the Constitutional Court and obstructed violently by Spanish police.
It has mostly played out peacefully, but tensions are rising.
According to the Catalan authorities’ own unverified count, 90 per cent of about 2.3 million voters backed secession on Oct. 1.
Turnout was only 43 per cent, in large part because pro-union Catalans boycotted the poll.
Puigdemont said last week that the outcome of the vote gave the Catalan Parliament a mandate to declare independence; however, he called for the suspension of that move to seek dialogue with Madrid.
The Spanish government has offered talks on constitutional reforms, but it is vehemently opposed to secession.
On Monday, two leading independence campaigners, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, were ordered into pre-trial detention on sedition charges.
On Wednesday, Spanish media reported that Rajoy could refrain from Article 155 if Puigdemont were to resign on his own and call for fresh regional elections.
Meanwhile, Marta Pascal, a senior member of Puigdemont’s party, said that option was “not on the table.”
Catalonia has 7.5 million people and accounts for almost 20 per cent of the Spanish economy.
Its nationalist pride is boosted by a separate language and culture, but surveys suggest that its society is deeply split on secession with a slight majority for the unionists. (dpa/NAN)