Constitutional Court suspends Catalonia’s Foreign Ministry while hearing government’s legal challenge

Catalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Raúl Romeva (R) with President Carles Puigdemont. Photo: RTVE
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• Ruling annuls Catalan ministry’s creation, activities for up to five months•

Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended all activity by Catalonia’s newly created Ministry of Foreign affairs for up to five months, while the court considers a legal challenge from the Spanish government to the creation of the new ministry by the Catalan regional government.

Spain’s government filed the legal challenge on grounds that the decree establishing the new foreign office endows the Catalan regional government with diplomatic responsibilities and powers that are in the exclusive domain of the Spanish State, contravening the jurisdictions established for autonomous regions and the central government by Spain’s Constitution.

While the matter is being heard by the Constitutional Court, the creation of the Catalan ministry and any related administrative directives by Catalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Raúl Romeva are automatically nullified. Catalonia’s parliament has said previously that as part of its ongoing process of “disconnection” from Spain, it will neither recognize nor obey any rulings by the Constitutional Court.

► Read More in Spanish at RtVE and 20 minutos …

► Read More in English at the Catalan News Agency …

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