Rajoy to take Catalan referendum law to Spanish Constitutional Court

The law that would allow Catalonia to hold an independence referendum on October 1, which the Spanish government deems illegal, may be living on borrowed time —even before the piece of legislation has been approved by the Catalan Parliament.

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy announced on Monday that he would take the referendum law to Spain’s Constitutional Court (TC in Spanish) in order to block the Catalan government from holding the ballot.

“It’s absolutely illegal,” Rajoy said at a press conference after a meeting with the Spanish king, Felipe VI. The Spanish president dismissed the referendum law as a blow to Spain’s democracy.