Catalunya plans 'route to independence' in 18 months
Sunday, April 5, 2015 @ 8:28 PM
PRO-INDEPENDENCE parties in Catalunya have worked out a way of turning the region into a separate country within 18 months if they win the elections.
Left Republic of Catalunya (Esquerra Republicana Catalana, or ERC), CDC and Convergència ('Convergence') hope to form an alliance with left-wing party ICV-EUiA and with CUP and Unió ('Union'), together with the groups in favour of the region's secession – the Catalunya National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium and AMI.
If the regional elections – held on September 27 in Catalunya, rather than in May as is the case with most other parts of Spain – lead to an outright majority win for parties who support independence from Spain, the region will proclaim itself a separate State within 18 months.
The only condition will be a poll to agree the content of the State Constitution for Catalunya and a public referendum where residents in and citizens of the region vote 'yes' or 'no', in the same way as Scottish residents did last year.
Described as a 'route planner' to independence by 2017 – if that is what Catalunya's people want – those who hope the region will soon become the world's newest country are going all out for their goal this time and aiming for safety in numbers.
But they may face considerable opposition from the central government, since president Mariano Rajoy (PP) has already passed details of the 'independence route planner' to the State law service to find out how he can block it.
In the meantime, some of the parties in Catalunya with only a regional presence at the moment have considered not running for the national elections in order to give new left-wing independents Podemos a better chance.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com