France, Germany voice support as pressure mounts on Catalan leader to drop move for independence

France and Germany have expressed support for Spain’s unity as pressure mounts on Catalonia’s secessionist leader to abandon plans to declare independence from Spain.

Regional leader Carles Puigdemont is due to address the regional parliament on Tuesday afternoon and Madrid is worried it will vote for a unilateral declaration of independence.

Despite huge calls for independence, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against breaking away in Barcelona saying the referendum did not show the true will of the region because those who want to stay in Spain mainly boycotted it.

Read also: Spanish court blocks move by Catalonia’s parliament to declare independence

Buoyed by the show of support, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaría said on Monday: “I‘m calling on the sensible people in the Catalan government … don’t jump off the edge because you’ll take the people with you.”
“If there is a unilateral declaration of independence there will be decisions made to restore law and democracy,” she told COPE radio station.

Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, is also seriously considering the use constitutional powers to remove Catalonia’s autonomous status.

The Spanish Prime Minister revealed that much during an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais on Saturday Rajoy when asked if he was ready to trigger the article 155 of the constitution, and said: “I don’t rule out absolutely anything that is within the law … Ideally, it shouldn’t be necessary to implement extreme solutions but for that not to happen things would have to be changed.”

 

 

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