Madrid - The Spanish government has
secured opposition support for dissolving Catalonia's parliament
and holding new elections there in January in its bid to check
the regional government's push for independence.
The Socialists, the main opposition, said on Friday they
would back special measures to impose central rule on the region
to thwart the secessionist-minded Catalan government and end a
crisis that has unsettled the euro and hurt confidence in the
euro zone's fourth-largest economy.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who wants opposition support
to be able to present a united front in the crisis, has called
an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday to pave the way for
Madrid establishing central control in the region.
The government would not confirm whether January elections
formed a part of the package, with Rajoy saying only that the
measures would be announced on Saturday.
However a government spokesman saw regional elections as
likely. "The logical end to this process would be new elections
established within the law," said government spokesman Inigo
Mendez de Vigo at a weekly government press conference.
It will be the first time in Spain's four decades of
democracy that Madrid has invoked the constitution to
effectively sack a regional government and call new elections.
Head of state King Felipe used a prizegiving ceremony in the
northwestern region of Asturias to indicate support for the
government and affirm the unity of Spain, of which he said
"Catalonia is and will remain an essential part."
"Spain needs to face up to an unacceptable secession attempt
on its national territory, which it will resolve through its
legitimate democratic institutions," said the monarch, a
ceremonial figure who sharply criticised Catalan leaders earlier
this month.
Rajoy wants as broad a consensus as possible before taking
the step, which has raised the prospect of more large-scale
protests in Catalonia, where pro-independence groups have been
able to bring more than one million people out onto the streets.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, a former journalist who is
spearheading the secession campaign, has refused to renounce
independence, citing an overwhelming vote in favour of secession
at a referendum on Oct.1.
Regional authorities said around 90 percent voted for
independence though only 43 percent of voters participated.
Opponents of secession mostly stayed home.
ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE HURT
Spanish courts have ruled the referendum unconstitutional,
but Puigdemont says the result is binding and must be obeyed.
The prolonged standoff has caused hundreds of companies to
move their headquarters outside Catalonia and prompted the
Spanish government to cut its economic growth forecast. The
region accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy.
In a test of investor appetite for Spanish stocks,
housebuilder Aedas dropped over 6 percent in its
debut on the Madrid stock exchange on Friday, although it later
regained losses to trade close to its listing price.
The uncertainty surrounding the future of the region has
rattled the euro. On Thursday, European Union leaders including
Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron offered
their support for Rajoy at an EU leaders summit in Brussels.
After Rajoy announces the direct control measures on
Saturday, Spain's upper house will have to approve them in a
session which could take place on Oct. 27, a Senate spokeswoman
said.
Actions could range from dismissing the Catalan parliament
and government, to a softer approach of removing specific heads
of department. Direct rule from Madrid would be temporary while
regional elections are held to form a new government.