European Union will lose credibility if it lets Madrid impose direct rule on Catalonia, and only the Catalan people have the right to change the regional institutions, Raul Romeva, Catalonia’s foreign affairs spokesman said today.
“How can the European Union live with that situation if it appears?” he told BBC radio, when asked how the Catalan regional government would prevent the Spanish government from reimposing direct rule.
“How can they be credible if they allow this to happen? Because what I can tell you is that the people and the institutions in Catalonia would not let this … happen.”
“The people have decided democratically for years what is the government they want, what is the parliament they want. These institutions need to be preserved,” Mr Romeva said.
“No one else but the people has the right to change those institutions.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he plans to sack Catalonia’s regional government and curtail some of the freedoms of its parliament.
If Madrid does impose direct rule the leader of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont will lose all his powers and will stop receiving a salary once the Senate approves article 155 which imposes direct central government rule on the region, the Deputy Prime Minister said today.
A single representative may be temporarily instated by Madrid to govern the region after the Senate approves direct rule, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said in a radio interview.
The Spanish Senate is likely to approve the government’s measures on Friday along with a proposal for fresh regional elections.