• Pro-independence deputies pass measure to ‘disconnect’ Catalonia from Spain
• Tumultuous parliamentary session sees walkouts, abstentions from opposition
The pro-independence majority in Catalonia’s Parlament today defied the high-court ruling handed down by Spain’s Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) and moved to approve conclusions of the regional assembly’s own internal report calling for the autonomous region’s “disconnection” from Spain through a Constituent Process (Procés Constituent) that the court has said is unconstitutional.
The decision to proceed with the Procés Constituent was passed with 73 votes from deputies belonging to the pro-indepenence Junts pel Sí coalition (formed by the Partit Demòcrata Català (PDC) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) and the anti-capitalist CUP party, with 25 deputies of the centre-right Ciudadanos and 11 of the conservative Partido Popular (PP) abandoning the assembly in protest. The Socialist party (PSOE-PSC) refused to take part in the balloting and Podemos-backed Catalunya Sí que Es Pot coalition voted against the measure.
The move by the Catalan parliamentary majority now throws the issue back into the hands of the Constitutional Court, which must decide whether to act to enforce it’s previous warning against passage of any measure promoting Catalan independence and which of the Catalan Parlament’s deputies and officials it may decide to hold accountable for the action.
► Read More in Spanish at La Vanguardia and El País …
► Read More in English at RT.com and The Guardian …
