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Madrid moves to curb Catalan powers after crisis cabinet meeting

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has moved to fire Catalonia’s president and his entire government using special powers in Spain’s constitution.

Speaking on Saturday after a crisis cabinet meeting to decide on measures to block the Catalan government’s attempts to achieve independence, Mr Rajoy said he would call elections in the region within six months in order to recover legality and the normal functioning of the country’s institutions. 

Mr Rajoy said he had tried to avoid imposing direct rule on the wealthy region under the constitution’s Article 155, but that he had no choice after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had failed to retract the claim that Catalonia has the right to declare independence after holding an illegal referendum.

“It was not our will, not our intention. We are applying Article 155 because no government of any democratic country can accept that the law be ignored, violated and changed by imposition.”

Article 155, never previously used since Spain’s constitution came into force in 1978, allows a government to take the “necessary measures” and “give instructions” to a regional authority when it acts beyond its legal scope.

In numbers | Catalonia
In numbers | Catalonia

Under these special powers, the central government plans to run all departments in Catalonia’s administration or create new bodies to do so. As well as Mr Puigdemont, Catalonia’s vice president, Oriol Junqueras, and all of the region’s ministers will be dismissed from their posts, Mr Rajoy said.

The government has sent its request to trigger Article 155 to the senate upper house in parliament, where the plan will go to a vote on Friday.

Mr Rajoy’s conservative administration is supported by the main opposition socialists, as well as the Ciudadanos party, guaranteeing a comfortable majority for the measures.

In a sign of defiance, Mr Puigdemont on Saturday changed his plans to lead all members of his government at a demonstration in Barcelona in protest at the jailing of two pro-independence activists accused of sedition by a Spanish judge.

Protest against Spanish police forces in Barcelona
Protest against Spanish police forces in Barcelona

According to Barcelona police, 450,000 took part in the demonstration, a number almost certainly boosted by Mr Rajoy’s announcement.

The spokesman for Mr Puigdemont’s PDeCat party in the senate, Josep Lluis Cleries, described the government’s move as “a coup d’état against the people of Catalonia”.

Mr Junqueras, the Catalan government’s number two, said that Mr Rajoy and his cabinet had “not just suspended autonomy; they have suspended democracy”.

In sweeping powers claimed by Spain’s government under Article 155, Prime Minister Rajoy will now have the power to dissolve Catalonia’s parliament.

The regional parliament will continue to sit until fresh elections are held, but it will not be able to exercise control over Catalonia’s new external rulers.

Article 155 will cease to apply when parliament returns after elections and a new Catalan government formed.

In the meantime, a government spokesperson said that Spain’s interior ministry will take over security in Catalonia, a particularly sensitive topic after leaders of the region’s Mossos d’Esquadra police force were placed under investigation for allegedly failing to back up Spanish security forces’ efforts to prevent the referendum from taking place on October 1.

Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont - Credit:  Spain Catalonia
Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont Credit: Spain Catalonia

In case Catalonia’s leaders refuse to accept the implications of Article 155, Madrid has moved to ensure that it will have police muscle on hand to back its decisions. The text approved by the cabinet says that Mossos officers “can be substituted by personnel from the state security forces”.

Before deciding to use Article 155, Mr Rajoy asked Mr Puigdemont if he had declared the region’s independence from Spain.

Mr Puigdemont, who had told the Catalan parliament that the October 1 referendum had given Catalonia a mandate for independence, failed to reply unequivocally.

In a letter to the prime minister, Mr Puigdemont threatened to present a formal declaration of independence to Catalonia’s parliament if Mr Rajoy applied Article 155.

Mr Puigdemont may also decide to call regional elections this week before the special powers come into force. A spokesperson for the Spanish government admitted on Friday that it was not clear whether a decision by Mr Puigdemont to call an election before he was dismissed would be legal.