Catalonia clears way for independence vote

MADRID - Artur Mas, President of the Catalan Regional Parliament Generalitat, on Saturday signed the decree to convoke an independence referendum for the region on November 9.

The decree had been approved by a majority of 79 percent of the votes in the Generalitat on September 19, with the support of his Convergence and Union Party (CiU), Republican Left (Ezquerra Republicana ERC), the Socialist Party (PSC), ICV-EUIA and CUP and with only the Popular Party (PP) and Citizens voting against.

"It is a day we will always remember," said Mas, adding that "nobody" could deny the referendum and he would maintain that attitude "until the last moment."

"Catalonia wants to speak, to be listened to and it wants to vote ... once we have manifested our opinion democratically then we will find the dialogue necessary to build the future. That is our desire," said Mas, who had a message for Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, who is firmly opposed to the referendum taking place.

"Nobody can be frightened of the fact that someone wants to express their opinion with a vote in a ballot box," he commented.

On Monday, Rajoy will call a meeting of his cabinet to announce the Spanish government's appeal to Spain's Constitutional Court against the convoking of the referendum, which he insists is illegal.

If the Constitutional Court upholds the government's appeal, Rajoy will then have to consider what action to take should Mas press ahead with the independence vote and it was recently suggested by Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo that the government could even consider temporarily suspending the autonomy of the Catalan region, taking away the powers of the Generalitat.