Catalonia on collision course with Madrid over independence vote

Catalonia on Wednesday announced a law to make formal its plans for an October 1 referendum on whether to declare independence from Spain, a vote the government says is illegal and has said it will stop.

Catalan lawmakers were due to vote later on Wednesday on the referendum law and the legal framework needed to set up an independent state. The laws will likely be approved because pro-independence parties have a majority in the regional parliament.

Polls in the northeastern region, whose capital is Barcelona, show support for self-rule waning as Spain’s economy improves. But most Catalans do want the opportunity to vote on whether to split from Spain.

The government on Wednesday said it had asked the Spanish constitutional court to declare the referendum law void as soon as it approved by the regional parliament. The Spanish constitution states that the country is indivisible.

“What is happening in the Catalan parliament is embarrassing, it’s shameful,” Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told reporters.