The Catalan Self-Determination Referendum Act: A New Legal Order in Europe

Background
The Catalan government on the 28 August 2017 presented a bill for Catalonia's transition to independence. According to the plan the bill would come into effect if a majority voted for secession from Spain in a referendum to be held on 1 October 2017. Madrid had already declared the referendum illegal.

An important stage was reached on the 6 September 2017 when the Catalan parliament passed the fast-tracked bill providing the framework for the referendum to be held on the 1 October 2017 and the Catalan government signed the decree.

The Spanish government started the process to ask the Spanish Constitutional Court to ban the vote. Spain's constitutional court suspended the referendum law on the 7 September 2017.

The Local.es and other news sources reported on the 12 September 2017 that hundreds of thousands of Catalans rallied in Barcelona on their national day to demand their region's secession from Spain, in a show of strength three weeks ahead of the independence referendum.

For many years La Diada Nacional de Catalunya had been a powerful focus for the independence campaign in Catalonia.

For the full historical background to the issue of Catalan independence click here.The Catalan Referendum Draft Bill, which was presented to the public on 3 July 2017, set the date of the referendum to 1 October 2017 and required the Catalan Parliament to declare the independence of Catalonia within 48 hours in case of its affirmative result.

The author of this blog analyses from a legal and constitutional perspective the significance of this development. He concludes 'A new legal order might emerge in Europe in the next few weeks. And if it does, it will constitute a unique case of revolution or institutional break-up in the history of constitutional law. For that reason, it deserves all the attention from all over the world, and particularly from the other members of the European Union'.

• Primary Source

ESO: Key Source: Catalan independence referendum, 2017 http://www.europeansources.info/record/catalan-independence-referendum-2017/

ESO: Background information: Catalonian referendum looming (Euro|Topics: Debates, September 2017, et al) http://www.europeansources.info/record/catalonian-referendum-looming-catalonia-and-madrid-head-for-confrontation/

---