Catalonia set for clash with Madrid over independence vote

BARCELONA: Catalonia is expected to pass a law Wednesday laying the groundwork for an independence referendum on Oct 1 which is fiercely opposed by Madrid, setting a course for Spain's deepest political crisis in decades.
The looming showdown comes three weeks after jihadist attacks in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and another seaside resort that killed 16 people and wounded more than 120 others.
Catalonia's regional parliament agreed to vote on the disputed bill with 72 votes in favour, 60 against and three abstentions amid jeers from opponents of independence for the wealthy northeastern region of Spain.
During the vote, small groups of protesters both for and against independence rallied outside the parliament.
Pro-separatist lawmakers, who control the regional assembly, are expected to pass the bill later on Wednesday, ignoring a ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court that has deemed the proposed law unconstitutional.
Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and other top Catalan government officials will then swiftly sign it.

Parliament as 'theatre'
Carlos Carrizosa of the centre-right Ciudadanos — the main opposition grouping in the Catalan parliament — accused the pro-separatist lawmakers of "diminishing" the regional assembly and "transforming it into a mere theatre".
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to immediately challenge the law in the Constitutional Court. His government has also threatened legal action against top Catalan political figures involved in the plebiscite.
The government's response to passage of the law will be "agile but not hasty", Public Works Minister Inigo de la Serna said Wednesday during a TV interview.
In a tweet, the president of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, said she had requested that judges at the Constitutional Court be disqualified, calling them "another extension of the state which has lost all legitimacy."
The majority of the court's judges have been nominated by conservative lawmakers.

Tax complaints
Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people with its own language and culture that accounts for about one-fifth of Spain's economic output, has significant powers over matters such as education, healthcare and welfare.
But Spain's economic doldrums and a perception that the region pays more in taxes than it receives in investments and transfers from Madrid have helped push the cause of secession from the fringes of Catalan politics to centre-stage.
Adding to the rise in separatist sentiment has been a 2010 ruling by the Constitutional Court which struck down parts of a 2006 autonomy charter which granted new powers to Catalonia and recognised it as "a nation".
Lawmakers who back independence won an absolute majority in the 135-seat Catalan regional parliament for the first time in a September 2015 election. The government that emerged from that vote vowed to begin the process of breaking away from Spain.
Rajoy responded by promising new investments in Catalonia and regularly sent his deputy to the region but made no significant reforms regarding the division of powers that addressed Catalan concerns.
Caroline Gray, an expert on Spanish independence movements at Britain's Aston University said Madrid could have defused the rising separatist tide had it offered Catalonia a new financing deal a few years ago.
"If some sort of deal had happened in the past, I personally think we wouldn't be where we are today," she told AFP.
Madrid limits us
Opinion polls show Catalans are evenly divided on independence. But a majority, over 70%, want a referendum to take place to settle the matter.
"I hope they will let us vote," Ramon Sanmartin, a 67-year-old retired engineer, told AFP outside the Catalan parliament.
"We want a better Catalonia, with more resources and we feel Madrid limits us."
Rajoy steadfastly refuses to let Catalonia hold a plebiscite similar to Scotland's 2014 referendum on independence from Britain, which was approved by London and resulted in a "no" vote.
His conservative Popular Party and the court argue that the Spanish constitution does not allow regions to unilaterally decide on sovereignty. — AFP