Court suspends Catalonia independence vote

Spain’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended a resolution by Catalonia’s regional parliament that called a referendum next year on independence from the rest of the country. Separatists in the wealthy, northeastern region have for years tried – in vain – to win approval from Spain’s central government to hold an independence vote like Scotland’s 2014 […]

Spain’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended a resolution by Catalonia’s regional parliament that called a referendum next year on independence from the rest of the country. Separatists in the wealthy, northeastern region have for years tried – in vain – to win approval from Spain’s central government to hold an independence vote like Scotland’s 2014 referendum on independence from Britain which resulted in a “no” vote.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont pledged in the autumn to hold such a referendum in September 2017, whether or not the central government in Madrid agreed, and the majority-separatist, regional parliament subsequently approved his plan.
The court said in a statement it “suspends… the resolution of Catalonia’s parliament that plans a referendum in 2017”.
It also warned Catalan politicians involved in the process, such as parliament speaker Carme Forcadell and Puigdemont, that they had a duty to “stop or paralyse” any move to ignore or dodge the suspension, or face “potential liabilities, including at a penal level”.