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Catalan independence drive will haunt Madrid whatever happens next

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.

28.09.2017

(Bloomberg) 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 rancour 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.