Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled a statute in favor of the Catalan region, declaring Catalonia as an independent nation. The court approved almost 188 articles of the statute but left 14 out of the endorsement list because of their weak legal stance.
However, Catalonia has been granted new powers of self rule and independence, while defying all members of the Conservative party who had been opposing this move for the last 4 years. It was feared that the statute endorsement would only cause the break-up of Spain, rather than strengthening its unity.
The issue of Catalonian independence was of sensitive nature at political level. The court stopped short of approving “Catalan” as a preferred language, a controversial problem that has led political parties to strike protests at groundbreaking level.
The court’s denial of approval towards the Catalan language has ignored the will of the Catalan citizens – said Ernest Benach: President of the Regional Parliament. The court said that the reference to the Catalan language is not purely constitutional. Hence the issue was left untouched.
The Catalan language was initially banned under the rule of Gen. Francisco Franco, but currently it is one of the most predominant languages in Catalonia. Catalonia shares 7 million of Spain’s entire population, which is spread over 48 million in total. The Catalonians wanted to break away from Spain completely and after the turn of events in the Constitutional Court on last Monday, people are saying that the statute didn’t put in enough effort in granting complete independence to Catalonia.