Constitutional Court nullifies Catalan sovereignty declaration, regional government defiant

[Barcelona] Catalan premier Artur Mas has responded defiantly to the Constitutional Court’s decision to rule that a declaration of sovereignty issued by the regional parliament is null and void.
Spain’s highest legal body on Wednesday admitted a central government objection to the text issued by the Catalan assembly in January declaring the region “a sovereign political and legal entity.” This was the phrase that incited the Solicitor General’s Office to file a legal complaint to the text on the grounds that it represented “an open challenge to the Constitution.”

The Catalan assembly also approved a second resolution in March, with the tentative backing of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), to forge a legal and judicial path toward holding a referendum on self-determination next year. The government has not yet challenged the second resolution but the Constitutional Court asked the Catalan assembly to clarify which of the two texts it considered to be the valid one. “The two are completely complementary,” replied the spokesman for the ruling CiU coalition, Francesc Homs.

The Constitutional Court has given CiU and its allies 20 days to provide arguments against its ruling.

“We will not put anything on hold,” responded Mas in the regional assembly Wednesday. “We will continue on the path despite the obstacles. We will continue because it is a path chosen by the people of Catalonia.”

Read more in El País.