Emergency government meeting as Catalunya's president signs 'public consultation' decree
Friday, September 26, 2014 @ 5:39 PM
CATALUNYA'S regional president will sign a decree tomorrow (Saturday) allowing a 'public consultation' on independence to go ahead on November 9.
Artur Mas says this will take place at 10.00hrs in the presence of political parties in favour of the north-eastern region's secession being put to the vote, including chair of Parliament Núria de Gispert.
The president, who always refers to Catalunya as 'the country' when he speaks of it, insists he is not gunning for independence just yet, but merely wants to see what the views of the region's people are.
And Spanish head of State Mariano Rajoy will not allow this and refuses to compromise in any way.
Mas, faced with the possibility of a prison sentence of up to 15 years and a lifelong ban on working in politics if he went ahead with a referendum without permission - since he would be guilty of sedition, or mutiny - has amended a law providing for public participation in policy-making to allow residents in, and people originally from Catalunya but living elsewhere, to cast their ballots in a non-binding vote.
His formal signing of the decree will mean the central government's Council of Ministers calling an urgent meeting - either on Saturday itself with deputy president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría standing in for Rajoy, or on Sunday when the president himself gets back from his official visit to China where he is attempting to strengthen trade links and diplomatic relations with Asia's fastest-growing economy
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com