Spain warns Catalunya's new president to forget independence
Tuesday, May 15, 2018 @ 12:45 PM
SPAIN'S government and opposition has warned Catalunya that it will continue to be extra-vigilant and will have no compunction about applying Article 155 of the national Constitution again if they consider the region's new president to be 'breaking the law'.
Quim Torra (pictured), leader of the Catalunya culture and social rights organisation Òmnium Cultural – whose latest member is US-born Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen – and MP for the party Junts per Catalunya ('Together for Catalunya', or JxCat) has now been sworn in as regional president.
Spain's leader Mariano Rajoy, of the right-wing PP party, and his direct rival Pedro Sánchez of the socialists, or PSOE, are already on their guard, as Torra is even more staunchly pro-independence than his predecessor, deposed president of Catalunya Carles Puigdemont, who is currently on bail in Germany after having fled to Belgium in October to avoid arrest.
North-western regional daily La Voz de Galicia has retrieved columns written by Torra in the past which had some choice insults for born-and-bred Catalunya natives who speak Spanish as their first language.
And his swearing-in speech focused on creating an 'independent republic'.
Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution was applied following the disputed independence referendum on October 1, stripping Catalunya of its self-governing powers, but will automatically be lifted once Torra officially takes up office and the region has a new government.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com