Catalonia calls independence referendum for October

Catalonia will hold a referendum on splitting from Spain on 1 October, the head of the region said on Friday, setting the stage for a fierce legal and political clash with Spain over the coming months.

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, said that voters in the unilateral referendum would be asked the question: “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent country in the form of a republic?”

“It is time for Catalans to decide their own future,” he said at a ceremony in Barcelona.

Previous secessionist challenges in Catalonia - a populous wealthy region whose capital is Barcelona and which has its own language - were blocked by Spain's conservative government and the Constitutional Court.

Under Article 155 of Spain's constitution, Madrid has the power to intervene directly in the running of Catalonia's regional government, forcing it to drop the vote.

Spain’s government has long warned that the planned referendum is illegal, and has promised to ensure the vote does not go ahead. Madrid argues that the Spanish constitution leaves no room for regional secession votes, let alone for secession itself.

That position, set out forcefully by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in recent weeks, enjoys broad support both in the national parliament and Spain’s constitutional court. Madrid is expected to launch a legal challenge against any Catalan law or regulation that provides a base for the October referendum.

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, dismissed the announcement as an empty threat, saying: “They can announce a referendum as many times as they want and put it back as many weeks as they want, and hold as many events as they want, but the referendum is not going to take place.”

Some 2 million people voted in favour of secession in that non-binding ballot, though turnaround was relatively low. More than 80% of participants opted for independence in a symbolic poll held three years ago staged by pro-independence campaigners – although only 2.3 million of Catalonia’s 5.4 million eligible voters took part.

This time round, however, the Catalan government insists the results will be legally binding.

In a speech in Madrid last month, Puigdemont said his government had a “democratically inviolable” commitment to the referendum and accused Rajoy, of failing to do anything “serious, sincere or real” to resolve the issue.

Spain’s constitutional court ruled the previous referendum was illegal five days before it was held on 9 November 2014, but the then Catalan president, Artur Mas, and others pushed ahead with the vote, helped by more than 40,000 volunteers who opened schools and installed polling stations.