The Catalan government has decided to call off a referendum on independence from Spain planned for November 9 which has been fiercely opposed by Madrid.
Spain's Constitutional Court decided unanimously last month to hear the central government's case against the poll, which automatically suspended the referendum until it hears arguments and makes a decision - a process that could take years.
The regional government of Catalonia had vowed to press ahead with the vote but during a meeting of pro-referendum parties on Monday, it announced that it would not go ahead after all.
"The government has determined that the consultation (referendum) can't take place," Joan Herrera, an MP with the tiny leftist Initiative for Catalonia party, told reporters after the talks.
Catalonia's nationalist government, led by Artur Mas, will announce an alternative proposal on Tuesday, he added.
Mas, who had previously promised to respect the law in his drive for a non-binding vote on whether the wealthy northeastern region should break away, is scheduled to give a press conference on Tuesday at 10am (9pm NZT).
He has hinted that if the central government blocked the independence vote he could call an early regional election that would act as a plebiscite on the issue.
Mas has faced an undertow of fierce separatist yearning in the street and among his political allies.
Members of the left-wing Catalan Republican Left (ERC), which prop up Mas's conservative CiU coalition in the regional assembly, have pressured him to defy the court order.
In a statement released after the news broke that the government had decided to call off the referendum, the ERC said "there is only one path: that parliament make an immediate declaration of independence".
Polls suggest the ERC could make big gains if Mas were to call early elections, leaving Madrid facing a Catalan government more fiercely set on independence.
With an economy roughly the size of Portugal's, Catalonia and its 7.5 million inhabitants - 16 percent of the Spanish population - have long been an engine for the country as a whole.
The region has its own widely spoken language which was repressed during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco and a distinctive culture which Catalans are proud of.
The 1992 Olympics, in part financed by the national government, helped transform the Catalan capital, Barcelona, into one of Europe's most visited cities.
But a growing number of Catalans resent the redistribution of their taxes to other parts of Spain and believe the region would be better off on its own.
Catalans have been fired up by last month's independence referendum in Scotland, even though voters there rejected a separation from Britain.
But an October 5 poll showed only 23 percent of Catalans supported the idea of forging ahead with the referendum and 45 percent wanted the regional authorities to comply with the stay ordered by the Constitutional Court.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called for dialogue with Catalans to resolve the impasse.
AFP
source: newshub archive
