Spanish president dismisses Catalan independence vote as 'authoritarian delusions'

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy has promised to use all means possible to stop the independence referendum planned for October 1 in Catalonia. “To all Catalans, to all Spaniards, I want to tell you to maintain confidence in the future as authoritarian delusions… will never defeat the serenity and harmony of our democratic state,” he said.

Rajoy spoke in the aftermath of a massive pro-independence event at the Catalan National Theater on July 4, in which the Catalan government announced the details of the vote and reiterated its commitment to making it possible despite the opposition from the Spanish executive.

During the event, pro-independence leaders claimed the yet-to-be-passed referendum bill was based on the right of self-determination granted by international human rights law. Therefore, they said, the Spanish government should support the vote.

Rajoy dismissed any chance of allowing the referendum to take place, and said Spain is ready to respond to the defiance of “those who want to take the country back to the past.”

The Spanish vice president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría called the pro-independence meeting a provocation. Even though the Catalan executive has called on critics of independence to also vote on October 1, Sáenz de Santamaría claimed all their actions were exclusively aimed at their own supporters.

Regarding the Catalan government’s plans to declare independence should the “yes” vote win, Sáenz de Santamaría insisted this will not happen. “The Catalan government can now spend 30 days explaining the referendum law..., and can say that independence will be declared in 48 hours, but one thing is clear: the State has shown that it only needs 24 hours to take these laws to court and have them frozen,” she said.

Pro-independence parties claimed on July 4 that citizens will vote on October 1 “just like always”, meaning that electoral guarantees will be ensured. Yet, according to Sáenz de Santamaría, there is only one way to vote hold a vote “with guarantees”, which is in accordance with the Spanish Constitution. “The law is what Spanish people decide what the law is, and not what a few gentlemen with delusions of independence write in an afternoon trying to prove they will achieve what cannot be achieved, because the only way to achieve things in this democracy is by respecting the will of the whole of Spanish society,” Sáenz de Santamaría concluded.