Spain Activates "Nuclear Option": Will Seize Control Of Catalan Government, Force New Elections

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy asked lawmakers to grant him unprecedented powers to force leaders of the Catalonia region to cease their independence push, a dramatic escalation in the confrontation between Spain and the separatist region, which the WSJ - and virtually everyone else - has said will be a major test for Spanish democracy.  According to The Spain Report, this

is the first time in the modern democratic period that a central

government has suspended home rule in one of Spain"s 17 regions.

Spain"s PM Mariano Rajoy unveils plans to curb powers of Catalan government https://t.co/0vMMTK8oCQ pic.twitter.com/KbKgHnqPv1

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 21, 2017

Rajoy announced that his central government would use Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution to remove the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, and sack the entire Catalan regional government as part of a barrage of actions, and force new elections on the region within six months. Summoning the sweeping powers of Article 155, Rajoy said Saturday, was a last resort. 

Puigdemont and his regional administration will be removed from office once the Spanish Senate approves the government’s plan as soon as this week and Spanish government ministers will take over the management of the Catalan administration, Rajoy said according to Bloomberg. The responsibilities of the Catalan government will be administered in the interim period by central government ministries. Furthermore, the Catalan Parliament will not be allowed to present a new candidate for First Minister, to prevent Puigdemont from being reappointed.

Rajoy said "This is not a suspension of home rule but the dismissal of those who lead the regional government". The Spanish Senate will be in charge of controlling the process. As a result, Rajoy said Spain’s central government would temporarily control Catalonia’s regional ministries until new elections are called. The prime minister said he is seeking to convene regional elections within six months.

PM Mariano Rajoy: Spain plans to remove leaders of Catalan government but not dissolve regional parliament https://t.co/8916oi25Yg pic.twitter.com/bFlytoUqjW

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 21, 2017

"The First Minister of the Catalan government was invited to parliament and he did not accept", said Mr. Rajoy, in a long press conference following an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Saturday, adding that Catalan leaders had tried to "impose" their will on the central government.

“We are going to work to return to normality,” Rajoy said, as car horns sounded in downtown Madrid. “We are going to work so that all Catalans can feel united and participate in a common project in Europe and the world that has been know for centuries as Spain.”

Rajoy also said that “the economic recovery is under an obvious threat because of Catalonia,” during the Madrid press conference, and said that “this is about peoples lives, jobs, salaries" as "Companies are fleeing” and "data on tourism is also worrisome, the tensions are deterring visitors.”

The "most anti-democratic part" of the past few weeks was "what happened in the Catalan Parliament on September 6 and 7". "Dialogue is a lovely word", said the PM, but "Dialogue does not mean the others have to accept your demands". "Dialogue outside of the law is deeply undemocratic".

Rajoy said there were four aims of applying Article 155 in Catalonia:

• to return to the rule of law,


• to get back to normality and "coexistence",


• to continue with the economic recovery, and


• to hold elections in a situation of normality.

He said the six-month period before elections was the maximum period of time he would like to see pass before a new vote. The PM also said the Article 155 can now only be stopped "if the Senate does not approve it", which however won"t happen as the governing Popular Party holds an absolute majority in the Spanish Senate.

Rajoy thanked two opposition parties, the Socialists and Ciudadanos, for their support for the measures, and said that Saturday"s announced measures had been hammered out in recent days with leaders from two of the main oppositions parties, a sign of the widespread political support for the prime minister’s bid to halt Catalan authorities’ accelerating steps to secede from Spain.

As Bloomberg notes, the move may be "a watershed moment for Spain and its 1.1 trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) economy, which counts on Catalonia for a fifth of its output." Hundreds of companies have already set up headquarters elsewhere in the country to avoid a legal limbo that emerged after Catalan leaders on Oct. 10 claimed the right to an independent republic.

And now that Spain has ended the game of cat and mouse, and effectively pulled the plug on Catalan independence, with the central government’s measure due to come into force within days Catalan leaders are due to meet Monday to discuss whether to push ahead with a unilateral declaration of independence. With Madrid having taken the first step, Puigdemont now has the liberty of playing the "oppression" card, even if Spain explicitly stated it is not suspending Catalan autonomy, so the semantical war of words will continue, although for the separatist movement the time has now come to either officially declare independence or end the process.

The question is what happens should the Catalan leaders follow through and declare Catalonia is independent, forcing retaliation, perhaps violent, from Spain. The answer will be unveiled shortly: the Catalan President will make a statement at 9pm according to a spokesman, and Puigdemont also attend a demonstration in downtown Barcelona at 5 p.m.

Catalan Leader: "We Have Earned The Right To Form An Independent State"

Though the results of today"s referendum have yet to be announced, separatists in Catalonia are urging the government to declare independence from Spain, citing today"s violent crackdown as the reason. In a rousing speech following the close of voting, Carles Puigdemont, the leader of the Catalan government, said his citizens have earned the right to form an independent state and that the results of the referendum, to be announced shortly, will be sent to the local parliament for ratification.

Though the central government in Spain declared the refendum illegal, and sent federal Civil Guard and National Police forces to try and suppress the vote in a dramatic crackdown that sent shockwaves around the globe, police only managed to shut down a small sliver of polling stations, allowing many in the region of more than 7 million people which has a larger economy than Portugal, to cast ballots.

(1) A vosaltres, que heu ensenyat al món el civisme d"un poble pacífic, que heu resistit vexacions i repressió, us dono les gràcies #1Oct pic.twitter.com/TmofPAfHmU

— Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) October 1, 2017

In his public remarks, delivered shortly after a speech from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Puigdemont also said that "with this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form a republic." He also said that the EU could no longer “continue to look the other way” from human rights violations around the referendum, according to a translation in the Guardian.

"The Spanish government has today written a shameful page in its relationship with Catalonia," adding that there had been abuses of human rights committed by Spanish police.

Puigdemont added that he will keep his pledge to declare independence unilaterally if the "Yes" side wins. A law passed by the Catalan parliament says a win of more than 50% for the "Yes" side will trigger a declaration of independence within 48 hours of the vote regardless of the turnout. He appealed to European leaders, saying the Catalan crisis was "no longer an internal Spanish matter".

"The Catalan government will transmit to the Catalan Parliament, the seat and expression of the sovereignty of our people, the results of the referendum, so that it can act according to that laid out in the referendum law", he said.

Spain"s Constitutional Court suspended the regional law governing the independence referendum, but Puigdemont"s government pushed ahead with the vote anyway, as the Associated Press noted. So far, 844 people and 33 police have been injured in the day"s demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colaucalled for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign after the shocking brutality that federal police sent by the government in Madrid demonstrated. Police attacked peaceful demonstrators, punched and kicked voters and dragged some from polling places.

Mayor Ada Colau told a local television station that "Rajoy has been a coward, hiding behind the prosecutors and courts. Today he crossed all the red lines with the police actions against normal people, old people, families who were defending their fundamental rights."

"It seems obvious to me that Mariano Rajoy should resign."

Mirroring Puigdemont"s comments, Colau said that Catalans had "earned the right to demand" a proper vote on independence from Spain, adding that "the European Union must take a stand on what has happened in Catalonia.

Rajoy in a speech earlier in the evening declared that the referendum was illegitimate, and that no vote had even taken place, eliciting calls for his resignation from local officials. Government officials from across Europe criticized Rajoy for the violent crackdown.

But perhaps the most amusing criticism came from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who on Sunday slammed Rajoy for trying to halt the referendum, saying the conservative leader was a hypocrite for supporting Venezuela’s opposition while cracking down on dissent at home.

“Who is the dictator?” said Maduro at the start of his hours-long Sunday television show. “Mariano Rajoy has chosen blood, sticks, blows, and repression against a noble people. Our hand goes out to the people of Catalonia. Resist, Catalonia! Latin America admires you,” added Maduro.

Spain has been a vocal critic of Maduro"s regime, accusing him of undermining Venezuela’s democracy and plunging the country’s 30 million people into the direst poverty because of his government"s economic mismanagement. Maduro seized on the images of Spanish riot police bursting into polling stations across Catalonia on Sunday, confiscating ballot boxes and voting papers, as evidence that it is Rajoy who lacks democratic credentials. Venezuela’s opposition responded by accusing Maduro of hypocrisy, saying the Venezuelan leader violently clamped down on four months of protests demanding humanitarian aid, early elections, and respect for the opposition-led Congress.

Voters Slam Spain's Political Leadership: Are Snap Spanish Presidential Elections Coming Up?

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Last year, the socialist party (PSOE) leadership ousted Pedro Sánchez as its head when Sánchez refused to allow a minority government of Mariano Rajoy to form. Susana Díaz took over as party head.

Socialist party elections were held yesterday. Sánchez ran again as an outsider and shocked the POSE leadership winning an outright majority of votes in a three-way race. This was a clear smack in the face to the party leadership who backed Susana Díaz.

With Sánchez back at the helm in Parliament, Rajoy has little chance of getting his legislation passed. Rajoy now has his eye on calling snap elections.

The Guardian reports Spanish Socialists Re-Elect Pedro Sánchez to Lead Party.

Pedro Sánchez has regained the leadership of Spain’s bitterly divided socialist party seven months after being ousted in a coup that laid bare the faultlines within the PSOE and left its status as the main opposition party in jeopardy.

On Sunday night, Sánchez took 50% of the vote, sailing past his main rival, Susana Díaz, the president of the PSOE stronghold of Andalusia, who took 40%. The former Basque president Patxi López finished third with 10%.

The PSOE has been in the hands of a caretaker administration since October, when Sánchez stepped down after powerful factions within the party rebelled against his refusal to allow Mariano Rajoy’s conservative People’s party (PP) to form a government.

Following his resignation, the PSOE abstained from Rajoy’s investiture debate, returning the PP to office and ending the 10-month political stalemate that had left Spain without a government after two inconclusive general elections.

Díaz, who was backed by party heavyweights including former PSOE prime ministers Felipe Gónzalez and José Luis Zapatero, had called for a more pragmatic approach to dealing with the PP.

Snap Elections

Eurointelligence fills in the remaining pieces of the story with commentary on snap elections.

The party will now hold its congress over the weekend of June 18 to renew its executive committee and approve its political platform. The danger for the PSOE is that the party may emerge from the congress divided, or that MPs and regional premiers will actively undermine Sánchez’ leadership.

Sánchez, who was never particularly to the left of the PSOE, rode a wave of members’ discontent about the party’s decision to abstain last October to allow Rajoy to form a government, thus avoiding a third round of elections which would have fallen on Christmas Day. Rajoy has indicated that, if the 2017 budget does not pass the parliament next month, he would call early elections.

Spain is likely headed for a third presidential election, but it’s unclear if the results will be any different than the previous two elections that resulted in blocked governments with no party being able to form a coalition.

The problem with dissolving parliament now is the crisis in Catalonia. The region has threatened to declare independence immediately if the Spanish government does not allow a referendum.