Spain faced a national divide Wednesday after its lawmakers overwhelmingly shot down Catalonia's bid for an independence referendum.
Spain's parliament refused the northeastern region's request to hold a November 9 referendum by a landslide 299 votes to 47 after a seven-hour debate Tuesday.
But Catalonia's head of government Artur Mas vowed to find a way to hold a legal popular vote over his region's independence.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy led parliament in spurning Catalonia's secessionist bid, refusing to countenance a breakup of Spain.
His ruling conservative Popular Party (PP), the main opposition Socialists and the centrist Union for Progress and Democracy all voted to block the Catalan petition.
But a defiant Mas said after the vote that the wealthy northeastern region would "seek to build legal frameworks" to allow the referendum to go ahead.
"If laws are used to deny reality, they will not manage to avoid reality, and the problem will grow deeper roots," he told the regional Catalan parliament on Wednesday.
Mas has also threatened to call snap regional elections as a form of plebiscite on the struggle for independence.
He began pushing for a referendum after he failed to clinch a better financial pact from the central government for Catalonia in 2012.
His conservative Convergence and Union (CiU) party formed a political alliance after regional elections that year with the separatist Esquerra Republicana party (ERC) has kept up the pressure for the referendum to go ahead.
"We are faithful to the democratic will of the people and we expect the same from the government," said ERC leader Oriol Junqueras in a reference to public support for the independence referendum.
- 'Mas is trapped' -
The Catalan National Assembly, a powerful pressure group, has gathered tens of thousands of signatures on a petition urging local leaders to "exhaust all of the paths" to a referendum.
The group has unveiled a "roadmap", which calls for Catalonia to declare independence from Spain by April 23, 2015 and last year it got hundreds of thousands of people to form a human chain across the region to demand independence.
The increasing mobilisation for independence is expected to force Mas to push through his bid for a referendum, as to do otherwise would mean that his own political future is at stake, analysts said.
"Mas is trapped because a very big part of civil society is taking part in this process," said Fernando Vallespin, a political science professor at Madrid's Autonomous University.
"Today this part of civil society is with him because they share the same objectives, but he will have a hard time putting the brakes on this process."
Mas will likely go ahead with the referendum even if its is not recognised in the hope that a large vote in favour of independence will push the central government to allow a legal referendum, Citi Research said in a research note.
"Calling off the referendum would likely trigger early elections in the region and these would probably deliver a strong result for the radical pro-independence ERC party - a least-preferred scenario for both the Spanish and Catalan governments," it added.
Proud of their distinct language and culture, a growing number of Catalonia's 7.5 million citizens resent the redistribution of their taxes to other regions and believe the region would be better off on its own.
The 2008 real estate crash that triggered a five-year economic downturn across Spain has added to the pressure for secession over the past two years.
Polls indicate a slim majority of Catalans support independence.
Spain's leader argues that a referendum would flout the country's 1978 constitution, which confers sovereignty on all Spaniards, not those of a single region.
Spain's Constitutional Court ruled last month that a region like Catalonia could not "unilaterally" call a referendum on its sovereignty.
Rajoy said the door was "wide open", however, for Catalonia -- which has more people than Denmark and an economy rivalling Portugal's in size -- to seek a change to the constitution.
The Catalan government argues that a 2006 Catalan autonomy statute which was passed by Spain's parliament granted the region the power to hold referendums.
But constitutional law professor Xavier Arbos said the statute only allows referendums to be held "regarding powers that belong to the regional government" and does not include questions of sovereignty.
"We are heading towards a head-on collision, a conflict of legitimacy," a Catalan lawmakers from the opposition Socialists warned.
Spain faced a national divide Wednesday after its lawmakers overwhelmingly shot down Catalonia’s bid for an independence referendum.
Spain’s parliament refused the northeastern region’s request to hold a November 9 referendum by a landslide 299 votes to 47 after a seven-hour debate Tuesday.
But Catalonia’s head of government Artur Mas vowed to find a way to hold a legal popular vote over his region’s independence.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy led parliament in spurning Catalonia’s secessionist bid, refusing to countenance a breakup of Spain.
His ruling conservative Popular Party (PP), the main opposition Socialists and the centrist Union for Progress and Democracy all voted to block the Catalan petition.
But a defiant Mas said after the vote that the wealthy northeastern region would “seek to build legal frameworks” to allow the referendum to go ahead.
“If laws are used to deny reality, they will not manage to avoid reality, and the problem will grow deeper roots,” he told the regional Catalan parliament on Wednesday.
Mas has also threatened to call snap regional elections as a form of plebiscite on the struggle for independence.
He began pushing for a referendum after he failed to clinch a better financial pact from the central government for Catalonia in 2012.
His conservative Convergence and Union (CiU) party formed a political alliance after regional elections that year with the separatist Esquerra Republicana party (ERC) has kept up the pressure for the referendum to go ahead.
“We are faithful to the democratic will of the people and we expect the same from the government,” said ERC leader Oriol Junqueras in a reference to public support for the independence referendum.
– ‘Mas is trapped’ –
The Catalan National Assembly, a powerful pressure group, has gathered tens of thousands of signatures on a petition urging local leaders to “exhaust all of the paths” to a referendum.
The group has unveiled a “roadmap”, which calls for Catalonia to declare independence from Spain by April 23, 2015 and last year it got hundreds of thousands of people to form a human chain across the region to demand independence.
The increasing mobilisation for independence is expected to force Mas to push through his bid for a referendum, as to do otherwise would mean that his own political future is at stake, analysts said.
“Mas is trapped because a very big part of civil society is taking part in this process,” said Fernando Vallespin, a political science professor at Madrid’s Autonomous University.
“Today this part of civil society is with him because they share the same objectives, but he will have a hard time putting the brakes on this process.”
Mas will likely go ahead with the referendum even if its is not recognised in the hope that a large vote in favour of independence will push the central government to allow a legal referendum, Citi Research said in a research note.
“Calling off the referendum would likely trigger early elections in the region and these would probably deliver a strong result for the radical pro-independence ERC party – a least-preferred scenario for both the Spanish and Catalan governments,” it added.
Proud of their distinct language and culture, a growing number of Catalonia’s 7.5 million citizens resent the redistribution of their taxes to other regions and believe the region would be better off on its own.
The 2008 real estate crash that triggered a five-year economic downturn across Spain has added to the pressure for secession over the past two years.
Polls indicate a slim majority of Catalans support independence.
Spain’s leader argues that a referendum would flout the country’s 1978 constitution, which confers sovereignty on all Spaniards, not those of a single region.
Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled last month that a region like Catalonia could not “unilaterally” call a referendum on its sovereignty.
Rajoy said the door was “wide open”, however, for Catalonia — which has more people than Denmark and an economy rivalling Portugal’s in size — to seek a change to the constitution.
The Catalan government argues that a 2006 Catalan autonomy statute which was passed by Spain’s parliament granted the region the power to hold referendums.
But constitutional law professor Xavier Arbos said the statute only allows referendums to be held “regarding powers that belong to the regional government” and does not include questions of sovereignty.
“We are heading towards a head-on collision, a conflict of legitimacy,” a Catalan lawmakers from the opposition Socialists warned.
