‘The State’s offensive to block the consultation begins’

“The State implemented switfly yesterday its political and institutional response to the Catalonian Parliament’s bill calling for a consultation” on the region’s independence, writes La Vanguardia the day after the Council of State, the Spanish State's highest advisory body, “approved unanimously” the legal framework of Madrid’s strategy to block what it says is a de facto referendum. The Council met on the day after Catalonia’s president, Artur Mas, signed a decree formally convoking the vote on 9 November.
The daily explains that the government says that the consultation in Catalonia would be a covert refendum, something that, under the Spanish Constitution, it is the only one with the power to call and that all Spaniards must have a say. The government is to hold an emergency cabinet meeting on 29 September to launch a lawsuit in the Constitutional court aimed at blocking the vote. Should the court agree to hear the case, the vote could be delayed until a final decision is taken, which could take months, adds La Vanguardia. Meanwhile, Mas said in a tv interview that “ballots will be in place on 9 November”.