Madrid, Nov 10 (Prensa Latina) The Spanish government has lodged today an appeal to the Constitutional Court against Catalonia’s parliament separatism resolution, which seeks to declare a Catalonian Republic by 2017.
The document to break away from Spain was approved yesterday by the region’s parliament with 72 votes in favor, 63 against and no abstentions.
The proposal was presented by pro-independence alliance Juntos por el Si (Together for a Yes), which has 62 deputies and the Candidatura de Unidad Popular (Candidacy for Popular Unity, with 10 seats in parliament, giving the absolute majority to the separatist forces.
In order to start the secession process, Catalonia, which covers 32,114 square kilometers and has a population of 7.5 million, is expected to pass new laws to create constituent laws, as well as to set up social security and tax systems, among others, over the next 30 days.
Spanish government president Mariano Rajoy announced that will appeal against the resolution today, after hearing a statement by the Council of State and participating in an extraordinary cabinet meeting.
Spanish authorities have rejected the secession declaration since they consider it an issue of sovereignty and territorial unity, which is up to the entire country to decide and not to a regional parliament. Another argument is that pro-independence groups obtained 47.8 percent of votes in the last election and even though they hold the majority of seats at parliament, many Catalonians do not support the secession.
On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court is expected to start analyzing the government’s legal challenge and its approval would mean the suspension of the motion approved by Catalonia’s parliament.
Pro-independence groups, who argue their initiative is in accordance with the most of the Catalonian population, announced they will not abide by a negative ruling of the Constitutional Court.
