Catalan parliament defies Spanish court with motion on self-determination

Published November 12, 2019
A man holds an Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) in front of French police officers at the AP-7 highway on the French side of the Spanish-French border on November 12, 2019. — Reuters
A man holds an Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) in front of French police officers at the AP-7 highway on the French side of the Spanish-French border on November 12, 2019. — Reuters

Catalonia's regional parliament approved on Tuesday a non-binding motion expressing the will to exercise self-determination, defying a warning from Spain's Constitutional Court.

The motion calls for political action but has no legal effect, a parliament spokesperson told Reuters. Catalan pro-independence parties hold a majority in the chamber.

The Spanish court has warned that Catalan lawmakers would face legal consequences if they pushed forward with the motion, which said the parliament expressed the “will to exercise in a concrete way the right of self-determination and to respect the will of the Catalan people.”

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