Spanish Constitutional Court suspends Parliament's declaration of independence

Barcelona (CNA).- The declaration to start Catalonia's independence process has been suspended. The magistrates of the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) were called to meet as a matter of urgency and have ultimately accepted the appeal presented by the Spanish executive. The TC will now apply article 161.2 of the Spanish Constitution, which establishes the automatic suspension of any resolution appealed by the Spanish Government. The approved appeal also warns Parliament's President, Carme Forcadell, current President Artur Mas and all the members of the executive and Parliament's Bureau that they could be fined or even suspended if they don't adhere to the TC's resolutions. The appeal presented by the Spanish executive considered the proposal to build a new independent Catalan State to violate core articles of the Spanish Constitution, such as "the indivisible unity of Spain" and "the subjection of the public powers to the law", amongst others.  

Earlier in the day, and after having met with the rest of the executive and with Spain's king Philip VI, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appeared before the media to defend the presentation of the appeal. He assured that by doing so he defends "the whole country" and promised to do it "firmly and proportionately". "I won't allow" that the pro-independence forces "finish with democracy and the Rule of Law" nor that they "subdue the citizens’ rights and break Spain's unity and coexistence", he warned. Finally, he assured that he "won't like to go further" than this.

Munté: We have long missed a state which actually defends our rights

"We are fulfilling a democratic mandate from Catalonia's sovereign Parliament" stated the Catalan government spokeswoman Neus Munté right after the TC's resolution was announced. Munté emphasised that the pro-independence declaration was "put to vote" and ultimately "approved by an absolute majority of the MPs".

Regarding the Spanish government's attitude and their strategy to stop Catalonia's push for independence, Munté admitted to being "very surprised" to hear that "today's appeal aims to defend the democracy and the rights of the citizens". "Democracy is not at stake in Catalonia" assured Munté "on the contrary, it is being defended and it has a very good state of health". Following on from this, she emphasised that Catalans have taken to the streets and repeatedly showed in massive and pacific demonstrations their defence of "freedom of democracy".

"We have long missed a state which actually defends the rights of the Catalans".

The Catalan government spokeswoman also lamented that the Spanish state "keeps using the legal service to act put to gag to Catalan's aspirations" and described the TC's resolution as "political".