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Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo has stated that should Scotland elect to break away from the United Kingdom, Spain will not oppose the move because it does not have any bearing on the internal affairs of the country. "If the Constitution of the United Kingdom permits - and it seems that it does - that Scotland call a referendum on their possible independence, we will say nothing on the matter," he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
It's all huff and puff and bluff from the No-men. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
It is also peculiar that the `national transition process' was initiated and some institutions for an independent state were created without waiting for the results of such a referendum. Moreover, the purpose and questions of the referendum clash with the Spanish Constitution which explicitly states the `indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation' and received 91 per cent support in Catalonia in 1978. Claims of Catalonia being a sovereign entity have been unanimously rejected by the Spanish Constitutional Court. While the British Parliament validated the organisation of the Scotland independence referendums, the Spanish Parliament rejected the Catalan one by a very large majority.
The Constitution says:
Article 2 The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible country of all Spaniards; it recognises and guarantees the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed, and the solidarity amongst them all.
The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible country of all Spaniards; it recognises and guarantees the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed, and the solidarity amongst them all.
Article 92 1. Political decisions of special importance may be submitted to all citizens in a consultative referendum.
1. Political decisions of special importance may be submitted to all citizens in a consultative referendum.
the Spanish Constitution...explicitly states the `indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation'
This is being interpreted restrictively to mean you cannot have a referendum in Catalonia only.
So is there any push for the Spanish parliament to call a national referendum on wheter Catalonia and the rest of Spain should go different ways? Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se
"There are lines that cannot be crossed", said Mr. García Margallo during a breakfast meeting with journalists: "The government will use all of the means at its disposal to prevent a secessionist referendum. The law, and only the law". Asked if those measures included suspending regional government, the Foreign Minister replied: "It includes everything that needs to be included to prevent it". "Within the framework of the Constitution and the rule of law, everything is possible; but outside of the framework of the Constitution and the rule of law, nothing is possible."
Asked if those measures included suspending regional government, the Foreign Minister replied: "It includes everything that needs to be included to prevent it".
"Within the framework of the Constitution and the rule of law, everything is possible; but outside of the framework of the Constitution and the rule of law, nothing is possible."
outside of the framework of the Constitution and the rule of law, nothing is possible.
In Spain we like to think we're living after 1978, though it may look increasingly to the casual observer that Europe is stuck in a mock version of the 1930s. A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
1. If an Autonomous Community does not fulfil the obligations imposed upon it by the Constitution or other laws, or acts in a way seriously prejudicing the general interests of Spain, the Government, after lodging a complaint with the President of the Autonomous Community and failing to receive satisfaction therefore, may, following approval granted by an absolute majority of the Senate, take the mea-sures necessary in order to compel the latter forcibly to meet said obligations, or in order to protect the above-mentioned general interests.
155.2. With a view to implementing the measures provided in the foregoing clause, the Government may issue instructions to all the authorities of the Autonomous Communities.
The European Parliament might make nonbinding political declarations, of course. A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
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