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Spain to use "all legal mechanisms" to block Catalan independence

Xinhua, November 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday said he would use "all of the available machinery" in order to thwart the motion passed in the Catalan regional assembly on Monday to "begin the process of disconnecting" from Spain.

The motion was passed in the self-described Catalan Parliament with 72 votes in favour and 63 votes against, with pro-indepence votes coming from Junts pel Si (JPS) and CUP parties. The vote was described by the number one in the JPS electoral list, Raul Romeva, as an "act of sovereignty, democracy and freedom."

Rajoy's reaction was almost immediate, saying that the State Council had been authorized to draw up the appeal which will be ratified in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and then presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court.

"We will use all of the measures that the State has put at the disposition of democracy," said Rajoy in a declaration in which he also made an appeal for calm and confidence in the Spanish institutions.

"Nobody can give themselves powers without control," he commented, insisting that the decision taken in Catalonia "has no value."

Rajoy also said he would meet with Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), on Tuesday. Endit