Catalan Independence Drive to Haunt Madrid Whatever Happens Next
- Vote attempt frays pact that kept country whole for 40 years
- Constituional crisis is most serious Spain’s faced: historian
Catalonia Sets Independence Vote Deemed Illegal by Spain
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Catalonia’s planned vote on independence from Spain on Sunday, ruled illegal by the courts, will likely haunt the rest of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s political career, whether he succeeds in stopping it or not.
A declaration of secession would only deepen what is already the biggest existential issue that’s confronted Spain since it returned to democracy after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco four decades ago. But even if Rajoy manages to stop the vote, as he’s vowing to, the level of rancor the movement has generated in the rest of Spain has already broken the political pact that has kept regional tensions in check since the 1970s.