Catalonia divides constitutional court

After five votes on the issue, the Constitutional Court of Spain remains unable to reach agreement on the status of Catalonia. The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which was validated by parliaments in Madrid and Barcelona five years ago, is still awaiting final approval from the court composed of five liberal and five conservative judges. The deliberations of the court have now been marked by "a major internal rift in the liberal camp," notes El País. According to the Madrid daily, on 16 April, one of the liberal judges rallied to the conservative bloc position, which condemns "the use of the the term 'nation'" in the preamble to the statute. The judges are also divided on some of the provisions of the statute: in particular, stipulations about an obligation to master the Catalan language and the autonomy of judicial authority in the region. The conservative judges will now present a more restrictive text aligned with "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation" as defined by the Spanish constitution, while the Catalan government has demanded that new judges be appointed. With only a few months left to run before elections in Catalonia, controversy on the issue will remain ongoing in the short term.