MADRID: Spain was preparing on Friday to seize powers from Catalonia’s regional government as political parties pushed for elections as a way out of the country’s worst crisis in decades.
Hundreds of separatists were making large cash withdrawals from Catalan banks in protest at Madrid’s announcement on Thursday that it would take unprecedented steps to impose direct control over semi-autonomous Catalonia after its leader threatened to declare a breakaway state.
Autonomy is a hugely sensitive issue in Catalonia, which saw its powers taken away under Spain’s military dictatorship — and there are fears of unrest in the wealthy northeastern region if Madrid seeks to erode it.
Catalan chief Carles Puigdemont has warned any such move could push regional lawmakers to declare unilateral independence following a chaotic referendum on October 1 on whether to split from Spain.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s cabinet is due to meet on Saturday to decide which powers to seize from Catalonia, which controls its own healthcare, education and policing. Rajoy on Friday said a “critical point” had been reached in the crisis.
But Fernando Martinez-Maillo, number three in Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party, said Spain could avoid such drastic measures if Puigdemont backs down before the Senate meets to discuss the plans, likely by the end of October.
Puigdemont “can change course, can return to constitutional legality,” he insisted.
Major political parties, who have overcome their differences to work together on preventing a break-up of Spain, were meanwhile pushing for fresh elections in the Catalan parliament, dominated by separatists since 2015.
Fresh polls sanctioned by Madrid — unlike the referendum, which had been ruled unconstitutional — would give voters a say on how to move forward.
News reports said the government and opposition Socialists had agreed elections should be called as early as January, which Carmen Calvo, the Socialists’ chief negotiator, confirmed.
“Obviously, there must be elections,” Martinez-Maillo added.
In Barcelona, independence supporters queued at bank counters and cash machines in protest at the central government and at banks that have moved out of Catalonia, as the crisis sends jitters through one of Spain’s most important regional economies. — AFP
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