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posted by Fnord666 on Friday October 20 2017, @02:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-said-no dept.

After Catalonia's leader missed a deadline to clarify the government's stance on an independence referendum, and missed another deadline (Thursday calling for an unambiguous renouncement of the independence referendum, the Spanish government plans to strip Catalonia of its autonomous status:

Spain was preparing to impose direct rule over semi-autonomous Catalonia after the region's leader Carles Puigdemont declined to categorically renounce an independence referendum, the prime minister's office announced Thursday.

Spain's government said it would hold a special Cabinet meeting and "approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards."

At the Cabinet meeting, the government would invoke Article 155 of Spain's constitution allowing it to strip Catalonia of its self-governance. That would take effect on Saturday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's office said in a statement.

Madrid had given Puigdemont a 10 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) deadline to clarify his government's stance on a non-binding declaration of independence passed by the regional legislature following a successful referendum on secession. But the Catalan leader insisted on keeping his options open, but that wasn't good enough for Spain's government, which had insisted on an unambiguous "no."

Bloomberg reports "Merkel and Macron Have Spain's Back as Catalan Crisis Escalates":

European Union leaders offered their support for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he prepares to suspend the powers of the Catalan administration to clamp down on its push for independence. EU chiefs arriving for a summit in Brussels on Thursday said they backed Madrid and stressed that the issue of Catalonia's independence was a domestic one for Spain.

"We're looking at this very closely and support the position of the Spanish government, which is also a position that's been adopted across parties," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "Of course this preoccupies us, and we hope that there can be a resolution on the basis of the Spanish constitution." Asked whether he supported the Spanish government, French President Emmanuel Macron said "always," adding that "this summit will be marked by a message of unity of its members in regards to Spain."

Also at BBC, The Guardian, and EUObserver (opinion).

Previously: Spain Trying to Stop Catalonia Independence Referendum
Police and Voters Clash During Catalan Independence Referendum


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  • (Score: 1) by Woosh on Friday October 20 2017, @07:03PM (6 children)

    by Woosh (6715) on Friday October 20 2017, @07:03PM (#585375)

    Well the Portuguese colonies in Brazil failed to submit their declaration of independence by the July 5th, 1776 deadline. So they had to wait another 50 years. The US overnighted theirs.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @07:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @07:46PM (#585394)

    ^ for anyone doubting US exceptionalism

  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday October 20 2017, @09:38PM (4 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday October 20 2017, @09:38PM (#585443) Homepage Journal

    On July 4, 1993 I had lunch with six or so German graduate students.

    "Vut is it that you Amerikans celebrate on July 4?"

    "That's when we started shooting at the British." That's not true but it's what I said.

    "For us it's October 6."

    "No it isn't," someone said very quietly.

    We finish are lunch in awkward silence.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Friday October 20 2017, @11:46PM (3 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 20 2017, @11:46PM (#585479) Journal
      October 6 is an official US holiday, German-American day [wikipedia.org].

      German-American Day, which celebrates German American heritage, commemorates the date in 1683 when 13 German families from Krefeld, near the Rhine, landed in Philadelphia. These families subsequently founded Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first German settlement in the original thirteen American colonies

      [...]

      Originally known under the rubric of "German Day", the holiday was celebrated for the first time in Philadelphia in 1883, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the settlers from Krefeld; and similar celebrations developed later in other parts of the country. The custom died out during World War I as a result of the anti-German sentiment that prevailed at the time, but the holiday was revived in 1983 in joint resolution 108. The bill was sponsored by Senator Richard G. Lugar (R–IN) on April 8, 1987.

      No shooting involved.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @11:55PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @11:55PM (#585481)

        The last operational unit of the Polish Army, General Franciszek Kleeberg's Samodzielna Grupa Operacyjna "Polesie", surrendered after the four-day Battle of Kock near Lublin on 6 October marking the end of the September Campaign.

        ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939) [wikipedia.org] )

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday October 21 2017, @02:02AM (1 child)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 21 2017, @02:02AM (#585528) Journal
          And Germans would celebrate that why? Poland wasn't a major opponent.
          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @03:29PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @03:29PM (#585683)

            Britain (mentioned in MDC's story) and France were allied with Poland. The conquest of Poland was the Nazis' first military victory and the beginning of World War II.

            MDC says his story is about Germans at CERN, which is in Switzerland. It's obviously not about German-Americans, because they ask MDC in heavily accented English about the significance of July 4 to "you" Americans. Since they were ignorant of the meaning of July 4 to Americans, they might well be ignorant of German-American Day. I doubt that there are many people who observe that US holiday in Germany. If they did celebrate German-American Day in Germany, why would they feel awkward about doing so? As you noticed, that holiday isn't about war with the British. Going by what you wrote, it honors German-Americans.

            If a member of the group thought the conquest of Poland by the Nazis was something to celebrate, there's ample reason for awkwardness and embarrassment.