"Spain’s
leader fired the government of the rebellious Catalonia region Friday,
dissolved the regional parliament and ordered new elections after
Catalan lawmakers illegally declared an independent nation.
The
showdown escalated the biggest political crisis in decades to hit
Spain, which is just emerging from a prolonged economic malaise.
Catalonia is a critical part of the economy in Spain, the fifth largest in Europe. (...)
As
of Friday night it was unclear whether separatist leaders — who hours
earlier exulted at the independence declaration — would resist. The mood
in the city of Barcelona was a mix of intense joy and subdued
trepidation.
“We
believe it is urgent to listen to Catalan citizens, to all of them, so
that they can decide their future and nobody can act outside the law on
their behalf,” Mr. Rajoy said.
The
steps announced by Mr. Rajoy mean Spain will take direct control over
one of the country’s autonomous regions for the first time since Spain
embraced democracy under the 1978 Constitution.
At
the end of what he called “a sad day” for Spaniards, Mr. Rajoy assured
them that he had the means to end a secessionist threat that, he said,
was based on “lies, frauds and impositions.”
He
removed the Catalan leader, Carles Puigdemont, and his cabinet, as well
as the director general of the autonomous police force. He also ordered
Catalonia’s representative offices overseas to close.
In ordering the Catalan Parliament to dissolve, Mr. Rajoy said new regional elections would be held Dec. 21.
Pending
the elections and formation of a new regional government, Mr. Rajoy
said, Catalonia’s administration would be run from Madrid.
Fueled
by a distinct language and culture as well as economic grievances,
aspirations for a separate state have percolated for generations in
Catalonia before boiling over this month.
The events on Friday, coming in the chaotic aftermath of an Oct. 1 independence referendum in Catalonia,
were greeted variously with anger, concern and elation on both sides,
with the prospect of even more volatile confrontations in days ahead as
the Spanish government moves to put the steps in place.
Spain’s attorney general may now seek to detain Catalan leaders on grounds of rebellion.(...)
During
the debate in the regional parliament that preceded their vote for
independence, Catalan lawmakers traded accusations and in turn described
the occasion as “historic” and “happy,” or else “tragic” and a
violation of Spain’s Constitution — perhaps the only thing on which both
sides agreed.
Within an hour, the Spanish Senate in Madrid voted 214 to 47 to invoke Article 155 of Spain’s Constitution,
granting Mr. Rajoy extraordinary powers to seize direct administrative
control over the region and remove secessionist politicians, including
Mr. Puigdemont, the Catalan leader.
In
a speech on Friday before the vote, Mr. Rajoy had said he had “no
alternative” because Mr. Puigdemont and his separatist government had
pursued an illegal and unilateral path that was “contrary to the normal
behavior in any democratic country like ours.”
Undeterred
by Mr. Rajoy’s threat, and after a bitter debate, separatists in the
Catalan Parliament passed a resolution to create “a Catalan republic as
an independent state.”
Most
of the opponents to independence walked out of the chamber in protest
before the vote, which the remaining lawmakers held via secret ballot,
aware that declaring independence from Spain could risk arrest. The final tally was 70 in favor, 10 against, and two blank votes.
Since
the referendum, Mr. Puigdemont had been squeezed in a tightening vise
of his own creation, and seemed at times to contradict his own
declarations as he squirmed for a way out.
Mr.
Puigdemont, a former small city mayor, was trapped between the demands
from Catalan hard-liners to declare independence on one side, and, on
the other side, the stiffening response from a Rajoy government
determined to preserve the nation’s Constitution and territorial
integrity.
Despite
pleas for mediation, he and his region’s independence bid were shunned
and condemned, not only by Madrid but also by European Union officials
wary of encouraging similarly minded secessionist movements around the
Continent.
European
leaders made clear on Friday that they would not be recognizing Catalan
independence and would support Mr. Rajoy, as leader of one of the
bloc’s most important member states. Donald Tusk, the president of the
European Council, wrote in a Twitter post that “nothing changes” and
“Spain remains our only interlocutor.”
Searching
for a compromise, Mr. Puigdemont came close on Thursday to calling
early regional elections in hopes of forestalling the drastic measures
approved by the Spanish Senate on Friday and preserving Catalonia’s
autonomy.
But
Madrid would offer no guarantee that it would not clamp down on the
region, Mr. Puigdemont said, as he immediately faced a revolt in his own
ranks from secessionist hard-liners who called him a traitor.
After
hours of wavering on Thursday, he relented and threw the decision on
independence to Catalan lawmakers, who took the fateful plunge on
Friday.
(...)"
