Catalan parliament rejects monarchy and Spain threatens with legal measures

The Spanish government threatened with “legal measures” on Thursday after the Catalan parliament passed a motion condemning the role of king Felipe VI in the independence bid, as well as demanding the abolition of the monarchy.

The executive led by the Socialist Pedro Sáncherz said the resolution was “politically unacceptable” and accused pro-independence parties of using Catalan institutions to “exacerbate the conflict” and fail to serve the general interests of the Catalan population.

The motion was proposed by the left-wing coalition Catalunya en Comú-Podem (CatECP) and passed with votes from Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Esquerra Republicana (ERC), the two main pro-independence parties and government partners.

Polemic speech

The parties that voted in favor of the motion criticized king Felipe VI for his speech on 3 October 2017, in which he took on the Catalan government for organizing a referendum on independence deemed illegal and made no mention of police violence against voters.

The resolution also reassured support for “republican values” and abolishing “an outdated and anti-democratic institution like the monarchy.”