Madrid Suspends

From the BBC:
"Catalonia crisis: Spain moves to suspend autonomy"

Spain is to start suspending Catalonia's autonomy from Saturday, as the region's leader threatens to declare independence. The government said ministers would meet to activate Article 155 of the constitution, allowing it to take over running of the region. Catalonia's leader said the region's parliament would vote on independence if Spain continued "repression". Catalans voted to secede in a referendum outlawed by Spain. Some fear the latest moves could spark further unrest after mass demonstrations before and since the ballot on 1 October. Spain's supreme court declared the vote illegal and said it violated the constitution, which describes the country as indivisible. Article 155 of the constitution, which cemented democratic rule three years after the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975, allows Madrid to impose direct rule in a crisis but it has never been invoked. BBC Madrid correspondent Tom Burridge says that for Madrid this is about upholding the rule of law in Catalonia, protecting the Spanish constitution and disciplining what it sees as an unruly, disobedient devolved government. However, the central government wants to minimise the risk of large-scale demonstrations, our correspondent says. Civil servants and government lawyers have thought long and hard about what measures to adopt and when and how they should be implemented.  Mr Rajoy is due to attend an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday afternoon.  On Saturday the government will be expected to draw up a list of specific measures under Article 155 of the constitution, launching the transfer of powers from Catalonia to Madrid.  The article says: "If a self-governing community does not fulfil the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain, the government... may... take all measures necessary to compel the community to meet said obligations, or to protect the above-mentioned general interest." It is thought the measures implemented could range from taking control of the regional police and finances to calling a snap election.  Spain's Senate, controlled by Mr Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) and its allies, would then have to approve the list.  Analysts say Article 155 does not give the government the power to fully suspend autonomy, and it will not be able to deviate from the list of measures. And Xavier Arbós, a constitutional expert at the University of Barcelona, said the situation was moving into "uncharted territory".  He told the BBC: "We simply do not know what measures the Spanish government could enact. We do not know how the powers of the Catalan government could be affected."

^ Madrid has acted and handled this completely wrong from the very beginning. Madrid had a chance to fix things until their brutal crack-down on election day which left 893 civilians  - whose only "crime" was trying to vote - injured. The Spanish State seems to be slowly imploding - and not just because of Catalonia - but because of Madrid itself (it even needed the EU's help and money not to long ago.) Rajoy needs to re-evaluate his actions and try to bring Catalonia back into a unified Spain peacefully before things get even more out of control and the possibility of a second Spanish Civil War becomes more real. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41678086