Spanish vice president labels independence process ‘fake’

Spanish vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, called the Catalan independence process “fake” on Monday in her report to the Senate on the application of Article 155. With only days until the December 21 election, Sáenz de Santamaría accused independence leaders of an “almost religious fanaticism” that made some Catalans think they were living “in an independent republic when those governing them knew this was impossible,” she said.

In her defense of Article 155, the constitutional clause allowing the Spanish government to impose direct rule on Catalonia, Sáenz de Santamaría said there was evidence that using Article 155 to protect the rights of the Catalans was “an unavoidable need.” “The true independence roadmap was breaking social harmony, dividing the public and weakening society with the aim of taking unlimited power,” she said of independence leaders.