Brussels, 16/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Early general elections will take place in Catalonia this year on 27 September, a year earlier than anticipated (late 2016).
Following the consultation on self-governance this autumn, the debate is still raging.
The President of the Spanish autonomous region, Artur Mas, announced on Wednesday 14 January that the elections would be brought forward. The date chosen is no coincidence, as it was on 27 September of last year that Mas signed the decree calling the Catalans to vote on the self-governance of their region. The consultation of 9 December could not, however, have any legislative value as he had hoped, following a decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court. In calling early elections, Mas is not deviating from his trajectory which is the independence of Catalonia, as he has already announced that in the event of victory for the separatists, secession would be his aim. (MD)