Catalonia’s President Carles Puigdemont had said that he would declare independence from the rest of Spain “in a matter of days” and had called for parliament to sit on Monday where it was widely expected he would make the announcement.
But the court which is the “supreme interpreter” of constitutional issues has ruled that any such move would be “a breach of the constitution”.
The court is made up of 12 magistrates. Four of these are nominated by the Congress of Deputies, four by the Senate, two by the executive branch of the government, and two by the General Council of the Judiciary.
The president of the court is currently Juan José González Rivas who was sponsored in his bid for the role by the ruling Popular Party (PP) headed by the current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Express.co.uk has contacted the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell for comment.
Earlier today Mr Rajoy called for Mr Puigdemont to abandon plans to unilaterally declare the region’s independence from Spain “to avoid greater evils”.
In an interview with Spanish news agency EFE, Rajoy said the solution to the Catalan crisis was a prompt return to legality and “a statement as soon as possible that there will not be a unilateral declaration of independence, because that will also avoid greater evils,” Rajoy said, without elaborating.
More to follow…